Frieza: A Simple Act of Mercy
by Silencer39
Summary: A simple act of mercy can be a powerful thing, it can change a life, it can change a nation, it can alter the very course of history. This is a story of redemption for one person who many believed to be a lost cause. Watch as one act of mercy changes a man from tyrant to savior. This is a story of Lord Frieza Hero of the Universe.
1. Chapter 1 - A Simple Act

**AGE 767**

 _"Mercy, it's a simple act, one that has the potential to change the universe for better or worse. It can bring people together or tear them apart, it can turn enemies into friends or friends into monsters. Its impact may seem insignificant but it has the power to rewrite the very course of history itself. At its core mercy is possibly the most powerful force in the universe."_

Frieza's mother's words ran through the Frost Demon's mind as he struggled to hold back the enormous green ball of energy slowly pushing him into the ground. Risking a quick glance behind him he saw the terrified looks of the three injured children holding their ground behind him. As Frieza lost focus for that brief moment the giant Ki blast forced him further into the ground, the planet itself was shaking from the energy being released. "Damn!" The Frost Demon cursed himself. If he couldn't stop this blasted attack the planet was history. He might survive the blast but the other's had no chance of withstanding the explosion let alone the vacuum of space.

"Frieza you can do it!" Tyr yelled over the roar of the attack, his right arm hanging limply by his side while Weiss supported him by his left. The former despot wished once again that they would have escaped when he ordered them to, but the kids wouldn't budge, stubborn brats were going to get themselves killed. They would die because of him, because of their misplaced faith in a man who once claimed dominion over the entire universe, whose very name had once struck fear into the hearts of entire galaxies.

Frieza was driven further into the ground as the emerald sphere began to burn away at the palms of his hands. Reaching out Frieza tried to see if any of the others were in a position to help, after another pain filled moment Frieza grit his teeth as he realised he was on his own. Everyone else was either knocked out or too wounded to help. That was when the laughing began, that filthy monkey was cackling once again, the lunatic that his father tried to keep locked away had taken control.

Over the roar of the blast Frieza could hear the overgrown chimp taunting him. "Why are you even trying you pathetic worm? Just give up and die already you've wasted enough of my time" as he said this Frieza could feel him send another surge of energy into his attack driving him down another dozen feet, he couldn't keep this up much longer. Was this how it would end? Obliterated by this unhinged Saiyan just as everything in his life began to turn around?

"Don't give up!" Weiss called down to him her high pitched voice just barely registering. Frieza couldn't see the young girl who had made such an impact on him but he could feel her as she began powering up.

"No" Frieza croaked, forgetting the pain racking his body and the ball of death above him.

"Leave my father alone!" Weiss shouted as she took to the air, Frieza could feel her charging straight for the cackling Saiyan. After another tense moment of helplessness Frieza heard her cry out before her energy plummeted, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Frieza howled at the top of his lungs, the Frost Demon could feel his energy surge as the fire within him was lit. His muscles bulged, his eyes morphed into deep pits of crimson and an ivory white bone mask snapped over his mouth covering it from the flying debris. Frieza could feel the changes going on with his body but he only had one thing on his mind, making sure his little girl was safe. Focusing his surging energy into a single point Frieza began forming his Death Nova, the massive ball of crackling purple and black energy pushed against the Saiyan's Omega Blaster. The two energy spheres pushed against each other savagely, arcs of lightning raced out digging deep trenches along the already ruined countryside.

The pressure from above began to alleviate as Frieza's attack slowly consumed the mad Saiyan's. Then with a sudden surge, Frieza applied another burst of energy into the sphere until it completely enveloped the Omega Blaster. For a moment the new sphere of shining white light looked like it was going to erupt, but then it began to collapse upon itself, concentrating to a single point at the tip of the enraged Frost Demon's index finger.

Looking up Frieza saw the Saiyan charging his position, the oaf was no longer laughing, a disgruntled scowl plastered across his muscular features. Well if the idiot wanted to fight him so badly who was Frieza to deny him. Winding his arm back Frieza hurled the sphere of white light at the charging Saiyan, who was only able to bring his guard up at the last moment.

The ball may have been the size of a pea but it packed enough power in it to destroy this planet twenty times over and so even with the Saiyan's raised guard he was quickly pushed back. Frieza chuckled at the brief look of panic on his simian adversary's face, he had now lost control and was being hurled into the air at an incredible speed until the sphere detonated. The blast violently shook the planet, mountains crumbled, earth and trees were uprooted and colossal ravines opened up in the ground revealing the burning core of the planet itself.

Taking this moment Frieza sought out his true target. After a few tense seconds Frieza found her half buried under a tree, unconscious and with almost no energy left but still very much alive. Picking Weiss up gingerly Frieza looked back to see both Tyr and Raijin looking up at the Frost Demon before them mouths agape. Walking briskly over to the other two kids Frieza gave the unconscious girl over to Raijin who held her carefully before looking back up at Frieza speechless.

"Get back to the ship" Frieza commanded his voice was deeper than expected and the boys' eyes widened in shock as he turned back to face the cloud of dirt and debris that was kicked up by the blast.

"What are you gonna do?" Tyr asked shakily clearly unnerved by the Frost Demon's appearance.

"End this" was Frieza's reply as he began to walk forward his power increased along with each and every step.

"But, but he's gone! There's no way he could survive that!" Raijin replied nervously as he shifted his hold on his unconscious friend.

Not saying another word Frieza pointed in the direction of the ship, he was in no mood to argue. Under normal circumstances no one could have survived such a blast, it would almost certainly be the end of anyone caught in its radius, Frieza knew better however.

As Frieza looked back he saw the three kids taking to the sky, the whole time Frieza thought back to his encounter with the selfless Saiyan Goku. He had sent away his son and friends choosing to fight Frieza alone, risking his own safety for that of those he cared for. Thinking about the kind hearted Saiyan brought a sly smile to the Frost Demon's face. Now he was the one facing down an impossibly powerful opponent, all the while trying to keep those he cared for safe from harm. The irony was not lost on Frieza. Taking to the air Frieza began to hear it once again, that manic cackling that the Frost Prince had quickly come to despise.

As the smoke began to dissipate it revealed the hulking form beneath, the true Super Saiyan of Legend that Frieza had feared all his life. This was not the kind hearted Goku, this was a monster through and through, an enraged animal, one that needed to be put down immediately. A few years ago Frieza would have wept, would have thrown a tantrum, he might have even considered blowing up the planet to give himself an escape. But things had changed for the ex-dictator, he had matured, he had a family and friends, he was Lord Frieza saviour of the universe and no overgrown simian would take that from him.

As he leveled with his opponent Frieza brought his guard up shifting to a fighting position feeling his power increase with each passing moment. Neither of them had reached their full power, and Frieza couldn't help but grin at the prospect of the fight ahead of him. Staring into the blank eyes of the Legendary Super Saiyan in front of him, Frieza lifted a single finger to signal his opponent to bring the fight to him. "Come face your death you filthy monkey scum!" Frieza roared. The two super beings rushed towards each other at blinding speed and Frieza braced himself for the coming battle, only one of them was going to survive this and he would be damned if he let another monkey best him.

 _"One simple act of mercy, many times its impact will go unnoticed. But sometimes, once in a lifetime it can change the very course of history."_

* * *

 **AGE 762**

Pain, unbelievable, excruciating pain coursed throughout Frieza's body, well almost throughout, he couldn't feel his left arm or the lower half of his body. As the wounded Frost Demon opened his eyes he began to recall what transpired mere moments before. The intense fight that tore the landscape of Namek apart with each blow, the Saiyan's attempt to leave as felt he had already won the battle and the climactic moment where Frieza's own Death Saucer bifurcated him from behind were clear as day within his mind. Well if there was any consolation at least his Death Saucer had left a clean cut.

Using what little strength he had left Frieza used his telekinesis to keep his internal organs internal. While Frieza was known to be able to rip entire mountains from their foundation, in his current state the small act of keeping a few organs in place was quickly diminishing what little reserves he had left. Frieza could only lie there in pain and wait for death to claim him, gasping in this fresh hell he had been subjected to.

"Though you brought all of this on yourself, it's a shame that your life had to end in such a miserable way." It was him, the rotten Saiyan Goku, he was still there talking to him, wasting time on a defeated foe even though Namek was moments from annihilation, the sentimental fool's naivety clearly knew no bounds. "I wanted to save you Frieza but you wouldn't let me, and now you will have to share the fate of the planet Namek, which you yourself destroyed" he stated looking down on the ruined form of his adversary. The Saiyan's words seemed to accentuate the pain coursing through what was left of Frieza's body, every inch of him burned in agony as the damage and exhaustion from the past few minutes ate away at him.

Frieza then heard, over the roar of wind and thunder, the sound of his footsteps leisurely walking away. "I'm tired of fighting, I'm going home… Goodbye, Frieza." His stride continued onwards each step echoing in Frieza's mind. How could this be? He was leaving, after everything that happened between them and he was willing to just leave him. He knew the monkey was leaving him there to die but the fact that he hadn't simply finished him when he had the chance gave Frieza an opening. This Saiyan was not like Vegeta, he had a heart, a conscious both of which were exploitable.

Through labored breaths that burned through his chest Frieza spoke as quickly as he could. "Please, help me" he wheezed causing Goku to stop in his tracks. "You can't leave me here... You can't let me die like this." The Saiyan was standing there perfectly still but with his shoulders tensed, it seemed as if he was going through some great inner turmoil. Feeling the end coming Frieza redoubled his efforts, he only had mere moments before he would slip away "You have to help me… Don't let me die." After no response from the golden haired warrior fear gripped the Frost Demon's heart, had he expected too much of the Saiyan? "Please have mercy" those last words were not part of some ploy to be saved, they were instinctual, pure, the words of a living being that feared the great unknown that awaits all when there time finally comes.

Those words made the golden haired warrior spin around fire in his eyes "how many people begged for their lives at your feet, and you killed them anyway!?" His voice rising in anger as he continued "did you show me mercy when I asked you to spare my best friend Krillin!?" The raw fury and sorrow was unmistakable in his voice. The ground shook once more, Frieza couldn't tell if it was simply the planet collapsing upon itself or the Saiyan powering up to finish him, it really didn't matter though, it seemed that this fight was well and truly over.

Despite the feeling of utter defeat, Frieza's own fear and the desire to survive pushed him onwards. With the last vestiges of energy in his ruined form he managed to gasp out what he thought were to be his last words. "Please… Please… Forgive me."

The torrents of howling wind, the crackles of thunder as they tore through the landscape of Namek began to muffle. The trembling ground beneath him seemed to even out and calm itself. The smell of magma and ionized air drifted away and no matter how hard he tried the Frost Demon could not open his eyes. Frieza's breathing became even more ragged and slow he could feel one of his lungs fail and the other was barely holding on. And then the pain, the worst he had ever felt in his life began to drift away, so this is the end the Frost Prince thought to himself, and solemnly he embraced the coming void.

With a sudden surge of energy everything roared back to the tyrant, sight, smell, hearing, taste and pain, the pain had returned tenfold but he was able to withstand it now, he felt rejuvenated, but how? Surely the Saiyan wasn't that foolish as to let him live? Eyes snapping open he stared up and there he was, Goku stood over the dictator with a glowing outstretched hand and a look that was a mixture of so many emotions, anger, pity, regret, determination and sadness. Using his new energy Frieza rose to meet the Saiyan, his enemy, face to face. "Why?" Frieza croaked his mouth still stained with the taste of his own blood "why did you give your energy?" Frieza was more confused by this act of mercy than the monkey's transformation to the golden haired warrior he was staring at.

"You asked me to, and I will always help those in need," a long pause stretched between the two as Frieza tried to understand the Saiyan's behaviour. "Even those that don't deserve it" he stared straight into the red eyes of the despot with calm determination, betraying none of the rage and fury he had fought with mere minutes before. "I've given you a second chance Frieza I suggest you don't waste it." Turning his back once again to the galactic overlord the Saiyan took to the sky, no doubt searching for a functioning ship to escape the doomed planet.

"He's really just going to leave, he could have finished me and still would have had time to search for a ship" Frieza said to himself as stared after the golden warrior. Looking down at his own bloody hand, purple electricity arced from one finger to the other, Frieza realised just how much power Goku had given him. He could concentrate a blast and attack the monkey right then and there with his back turned, he wouldn't see it coming. Raising his hand to point directly at the retreating Saiyan Frieza felt the energy build up. It was dirty and underhanded but oh so tempting, he would show him what happens when you pity the most powerful being in the universe.

Lowering his hand back down Frieza realised that such a maneuver would cost him what was left of his energy. Leaving him no way off the planet, plus there was no guarantee he would even hit the Saiyan from this far away. Attacking now could seal the Frost Demon's fate and that was not something he could afford. Turning around he found his severed arm and lower torso, all things considered they were still in fine shape. Using his telekinetic abilities Frieza levitated his limbs next to him as he gazed around at the ruined landscape, the sight of his greatest defeat. Spitting a wad of blood and phlegm onto the scorched ground Frieza took to the air as well, he had enough of this wretched dirt ball, it was time to leave.

* * *

Floating in space was not one of Frieza's favourite activities, it was incredibly dull, there was no one to converse with and he couldn't smell or hear anything. He was just forced to float along as he gazed back at Namek, he was waiting as comfortably as he could just outside the expected blast radius of the planet. His limbs held in place by his telekinesis all he could do was wait for the coming explosion. The destruction of a planet and the fireworks display that went with it always brought him a great deal of enjoyment, there was no other sight quite like it in the universe.

As the time slowly ticked away Frieza thought back to the events that had transpired on the green world over the past few days. Specifically he thought of the five minutes he had given the planet after connecting with his Death Ball, either Namek was tougher than it looked or Frieza had seriously misjudged the power of his Death Ball. Both options agitated him, but then again almost every moment on that dirt ball had gotten on his nerves and now here he was waiting for an already dead planet to finally give up and explode, why hadn't he simply thrown a second Death Ball?

'I wonder if that monkey was able to get…' Frieza thought to himself but was cut short as he spotted an Attack Ball, most likely one of the Ginyu's, leaving what was left of Namek's quickly deteriorating atmosphere. 'Well that answers that question' Frieza thought to himself drily. Raising a single finger the Frost Demon prepared a Death Beam, the pinprick of purple energy shining brightly in the void. Tracking the ship on its departure Frieza smiled to himself. 'It would be so simple you stupid monkey, I don't even have to hit you. One shot and that damn pod will explode and then I can watch you writhe and perish in the vacuum.' The thought was so tempting, it would be the easy way out, he, Lord Frieza would win and that simian would lose. The tip of his finger crackled with energy as he followed the retreating Attack Ball.

 _"Please have mercy"_

His own words ran through Frieza's mind, the defeated pleading tone forcing the Frost Demon to lower his arm. Sighing to himself inaudibly Frieza turned away from his foe letting him go just as Goku had for him. 'I will have my revenge monkey mark my words, but it will be a fair contest, and I will emerge victorious when that time comes' Frieza thought to himself, the image of himself holding his defeated adversary in victory brought another smile to the tyrant.

Flashes of light began to emanate from Namek forcing Frieza to shield his eyes as they adjusted to the increased brightness. The surface of the doomed planet was exploding outwards sending massive chunks of rock and dirt into the atmosphere, Namek had finally given up. 'Here it comes' Frieza thought to himself excitedly, he readied himself for the grand spectacle which never failed to entertain him. The planet Namek burst forth releasing a cascade of energy, fire and debris in all directions. Frieza felt the force of the blast push him back slightly but that hardly mattered as he watched the tempest of fire and colour cascade out into the void. The explosion was over almost as quickly as it began and in the planet's place was a swirling cloud of debris.

The explosion was in fact quite magnificent one of the best he had ever witnessed even though it was short lived, yet all Frieza felt was disappointment. He had hoped the detonation of the celestial body would help take his mind off the past few days, but now that it was over all Frieza felt was empty. He had failed to obtain the Dragon Balls, he had failed to gain immortality, he failed to kill that damn dirty ape, he had lost one of his oldest ships and he lost Zarbon, Dodoria and the entire Ginyu Force. Apparently he couldn't even kill Vegeta properly, somehow the Prince was alive even after beating the tar out of him mercilessly and blasting a hole in him. The insubordinate Prince of all Chimps had shown up during his fight with Goku and quickly vanished mere moments after his arrival much too both combatants confusion.

The worst part though was looking back on his own defeat, cut to pieces by his own technique, Cooler would never let him live that down. The thought of his smug asshole of a brother brought a surge of rage through him causing him to hurl a massive energy blast into the darkness of deep space. His thoughts were starting to spiral out of control now, remembering all his failure over the past few days brought him to the point of tears. 'Bested by a monkey... That then pitied me enough to save my life' Frieza couldn't decide whether to feel absolutely enraged or just defeated.

'And now here I am stuck in the middle of the space boonies, waiting for a ride from father. Oh this will be ever so much fun.' Well Frieza could at least take solace knowing he still had a sense of humour 'hurray for small victories I guess.'

At this point all Frieza could do was think and wait, his father would no doubt have been notified of the destruction of Frieza's saucer and would be coming to personally check up on him. A vein on the tyrant's forehead twitched at the indignity of needing his father to come get him. But since Frieza had no way of knowing which direction to actually take to get back home to Fuar, he was stuck there alone with nothing more than memories and thoughts of the future to occupy his time.

* * *

After a full day of moping about the past Frieza decided to be proactive and began compiling a mental list of things he would take care of when he made it back home. While this allowed the Frost Demon to actually plan out what moves he would be making in the future it also helped to quickly pass the time.

First on that list was to have his arm and lower half reattached, his Death Saucer had left such a clean cut that he hoped the process would go smoothly. Once he got home he was sure Nadan would begin working on that immediately, the thought of needing a prosthetic was sickening to the Frost Prince. As for his tail that would simply regrow itself given enough time, judging by how much was missing he estimate that it would take roughly one month.

Next on his list of things to do was training, once he was back to one hundred percent he would have to begin an intense regimen if he wanted to surpass the Super Saiyan. Frieza had trained before but it was rudimentary at best, just the basics, enough to get him by a stronger than average opponent but that's about it. That was one of the major factors in their battle, by the look of things Goku had trained his entire life using his technique to set up his attack. At first that didn't matter as Frieza's speed and power advantage trumped Goku's skill, but once the playing field was leveled by the monkey's transformation things quickly turned south for the despot. If Frieza could focus on actually fighting and improving his own overall technique then he was sure he would emerge victorious in a second outing against the Saiyan.

Next was the matter of sensing energy, not being able to quickly turned into a huge detriment once their scouters were destroyed back on Namek. To make matters worse even when they did have them the blasted things exploded when they tried to read an energy level that surpassed their limits. Such a limitation was unacceptable at this point, therefor the scouters were essentially worthless and a new solution needed to be found. That left sensing energy, the Earthlings could do it no doubt and had tried to exploit that advantage during their confrontation to varying degrees of success. The problem was where to find a teacher? Vegeta had seemed to learn on his own so it couldn't be that hard, Frieza decided to file that one away for later.

Then there was the matter of transportation, with the saucer now destroyed Frieza would need a new ship along with a new crew to pilot it. Perhaps he could convince Nadan and Tukkan to finally leave the safety of Fuar. Either way one thing was for sure, Frieza was tired of the gaudy design of the saucer models and would have to look into something new, something sleek with just the right amount of style. The thought of acquiring a brand new ship brought a smile to the Frost Demon's face as he envisioned showing it off to his brother.

As the days trickled by Frieza began to wonder if anyone was actually coming for him, true they were in the middle of nowhere space but still it should not have taken this long to find him. After what felt like an eternity a ship finally appeared amongst the debris field deploying searchlights as they began to scour through the detritus. The immense eyesore could have only belonged to Frieza's father. In no time at all the ship's searchlights located the fallen prince and after sending out a few soldiers in environmental suits, were able to bring Frieza aboard through the airlock. Waiting for him inside was none other than his father, King Cold stood at least twice as tall as his son, even when his legs were still attached, and was a spitting image of his son while in his second form. King Cold looked down on the wreck that was his offspring the slightest sneer crossing his face as he did so.

"Welcome back my son, I'm so pleased to see you're still alive." Frieza had known his father long enough to recognize that tone. While his words sounded like he cared about the wellbeing of his son, his tone stated pretty clearly how disappointed the king was in his youngest heir.

Gritting his teeth at the subtle jab to his pride Frieza managed to respond calmly "Yes father I'm alive, please set a course for Fuar immediately." A few of the soldiers around him took a tentative step back, they had all heard about the legendary temper of the Frost Prince, and if he was anything like his father they knew to stay as far away as their duty allowed.

"What for my son?" King Cold asked with the smallest glint of a smile crossing his mouth as he saw the nervous looks on his subordinate's faces.

"Well I would enjoy having these reattached to me" Frieza replied with a deadpan tone as he released the telekinetic hold on his severed limbs. They fell to the ground with a loud smack startling several of the nearby soldiers.

"Ah yes now that reminds me" Frieza didn't believe for one second that his father had almost forgotten something. "How did this become of you my Prince?" The sickly sweet tone of his father made Frieza want to gag, he now recalled why he hated talking with him so much, the man was insufferable.

"It's not important, I will handle it myself father" Frieza replied curtly, there was no point starting a war of words, not yet at least. They would still have quite some time to go until they made it home and Frieza was already sporting a rather vicious headache, he really didn't need another. So swallowing his pride Frieza gave his father a brief nod of thanks before he began to drift off in the direction of the guest quarters. Just before he reached the first set of automatic doors however he felt a large hand rest on his shoulder, exerting enough pressure to keep him in place.

"Please son let's have a talk, I insist." His voice made it perfectly clear there was no way around it.

Frieza reluctantly conceded and floated along further into the ship with his father at his side. All the while his limbs dragged behind him once again, pulled along by his telekinetic hold leaving a trail of dark purple blood in its wake. This was going to be a long trip, Frieza thought to himself 'but once it's over and I'm back to full power I'm coming for you monkey, just you wait.'

* * *

 **Author's Notes: Hey everyone so I just want to say that I love Dragon Ball, always have and always will so I'm really enjoying writing this story. I'm a personal sucker for stories of redemption which is why I like Vegeta and Piccolo so much. So I wanted to write a story like that involving one of the main three villains, while I was planning this I realised Frieza was the only logical choice to have a change of heart. Unlike Buu and Cell who were either created to be evil or are evil incarnate Frieza is a being of choice and unlike the others is given a perfect turning point that still leaves him with plenty of story to go through.**

 **I plan to take this story all the way into Resurrection of F and possibly into Super if I can figure out how to spin it. It won't follow the main story completely, Frieza will have his own side adventures but will eventually join forces with the Z-Fighters.**

 **Frieza's story is going to be a long one, he's going to go through a lot of pain and hardships (which let's face it he kinda deserves in all honesty) and his redemption will not come easy. It's not going to happen overnight and it will take years also much like Vegeta he's still going to be kind of a dick. But I mean would you have him any other way?**

 **So I've rambled long enough and I do hope you enjoy my work, I'll be reading all reviews and any criticisms and advice will be very welcome. Thanks for your time.**

* * *

 **Author's Notes (Redux): Hey everyone so as I said I'm combing through each chapter to fix grammatical errors and just make slight adjustments to dialogue and story. Nothing huge really except for this chapter, I knew this one needed a lot of work so I hope you enjoyed the expansion on it.**

 **I'm going to be posting these as I complete them so you're gonna see a lot of updates in the next week or so. The other changes won't be as dramatic for the subsequent chapters, and I won't be posting new notes for each one either I just wanted to make sure you guys saw this and would know how I'm releasing the updates.**

 **As always guys thanks for the awesome support you have all been awesome take care**


	2. Chapter 2 - Moving Forward

"Now son do continue, I didn't mean to interrupt" that had been the fifth time King Cold had interrupted Frieza while his son recalled the events on Namek. Trying to calm himself, Frieza took a deep breath and continued his recount of the finale with his battle with the Saiyan Goku.

"As I was saying father, the monkey just turned around and left me there, to find a ship no doubt" he had told his father a fairly accurate retelling of what transpired on the planet but there were two things the tyrant would take with him to the grave. That the Saiyan had provided him with the energy needed to get off world, which still confused Frieza, and the despot being bifurcated by his own Death Saucer, which still pissed him off to no end. "So to surmise I managed to get off the planet before it detonated" he was glad to be over with the story, having to explain his failures to his father was nothing short of embarrassing, he was Lord Frieza terror of the universe, not some petulant child.

"Hmmm quite the tale my son, but you seem to have left out exactly how you lost your arm and legs" King Cold chuckled condescendingly. The question made Frieza's blood boil, his father was enjoying this far too much and he wanted nothing more than to float away and ignore him for the rest of the journey home.

"The super monkey had an attack that's similar to my Death Saucer" the tyrant replied curtly. It wasn't impossible, the short bald one had used a similar attack to cut off his second form's tail. It was not out of the question that the Saiyan could perform a similar technique, they were apparently good friends after all.

 _"Did you show me mercy when I asked you to spare my best friend Krillin?"_

It happened again! Why did those Saiyan's words keep coming back to him like this? Ever since the destruction of Namek Frieza these memories of the golden haired warrior kept coming back to him. The last place he wanted that Saiyan was inside his head, and these recollections would show up at the most inopportune times, which only exacerbated the Frost Demon's already sour mood.

"Is something wrong son?" The King cocked an eyebrow, staring at his heir trying to determine what was going on in his head. In truth the King cared very little about how his son felt, such mushy matters were things his late wife had would focus on. Ever since her passing King Cold had done everything in his power to mould his sons into what they were today. Any signs of weakness needed to be eradicated immediately and the look on Frieza's face made it all too clear that something was wrong.

"I'm fine father" the words came almost robotically lacking the Frost Demon's usual eloquence "I just want to return home." It may have sounded childish, a spoiled son whining to his father to take him home, but this was not the case for Frieza. He had plans to enact, he wanted revenge and he was ready to begin preparations for his triumphant return to power.

"Well that's good to hear, one last thing though did you manage to find out where this… Super Saiyan resides?" The King asked like it was an off handed question, as if he was asking about the weather.

"Earth" replied Frieza almost absent mindedly.

"Wonderful once we have you outfitted with the cybernetics we'll head there immediately and wipe it out" Cold began to chuckle, imagining the destruction brought a very real, very wicked smile to the Emperor's face.

Frieza's shoulders tensed at what the King just said, hoping he misheard him Frieza turned back to his father giving him a questioning look. "Father, what do you mean cybernetics?" A vein started to grow on Frieza's head, he had a feeling he knew what the King was referring to and the very idea of it raised his blood pressure alarmingly fast.

"Well just look at the state you're in son you clearly need to have your legs and arm back, I will not have my own blood be left a cripple." The condescending tone of his voice was as irritating as Vegeta's boisterous ego.

"Father my limbs are still in fine condition, they have been sitting in space with me this entire time now. When we reach Fuar I will get Nadan to put me back together, I will not have that pack of hacks and butchers you call a medical staff lay a single finger on me." Frieza had enough, his father would not meddle in his recovery, this was personal, to hell with the family honour.

"Frieza be reasonable, if you allow them to make the modifications you will be unstoppable" King Cold let his words hang in the air allowing his son to take them in before continuing. "With a few modifications no one in the universe will be able to stand up to you, certainly no super monkey." The Frost King was choosing his words carefully he had raised his son his entire life and prepared him for the future as he saw fit, his late wife had attempted to instill such nonsense ideals like mercy, tact and diplomacy but the King was fairly certain he had stomped such thoughts from his sons' minds.

"No" the word echoed in the King's quarters leaving behind it a solid veil of tension in the air. The King's eyes to narrow towards his son warningly, he was not one to be denied even by his sons. "I will defeat Goku, I will not allow anyone to defile my body with technological garbage." The two Frost Demons stared each other down both holding firm to their position, neither would give up this point. The staring match would have continued if not for an interruption from the intercom.

"My lords, I apologize for bothering you but we will be landing on Fuar in approximately five minutes" a hint of terror was apparent in the soldier's voice. Clearly he didn't like the idea of conversing to the royals, even if it was through an intercom. "We also have confirmation that the medical staff is ready for Lord Frieza" the soldier finished before turning the intercom back off.

Frieza's head whipped back to his father anger flooding his features, he had already called in for the cybernetic treatment. No, knowing his father he must have planned farther ahead probably the moment they lost touch with Frieza's ship. With his jaw clenched Frieza regarded his father with squinted eyes "if even one of them so much as touches me, then I will vaporize the entire lot of them."

"Very well then my boy" King Cold appeared unfazed by his son's behaviour but on the inside he was positively seething. Going against his wishes like this was exactly why he wanted to have the cybernetic parts installed. Frieza was far too rebellious for his own good, if he were unconscious it would a simple matter to implant a behavioural modifier into his brain. Then little outbursts like that one and his sudden urge to go to Namek against his wishes could be avoided. Some might say such behaviour was deplorable but Frieza was too naturally powerful to go on without a leash he would have to think of something else to keep his son in line.

Frieza could feel the ship making its landing and decided that he had enough of his father's company. Despite his pompous, condescending attitude Frieza did love his father in the way only a son can. He truly wanted to make the King proud of him, so when he turned around and brought up ideas of body modifications and ways to 'improve' upon him it became quite the blow to his own self-esteem. As he began to make his way back to the exit of the King's quarters Frieza turned his head back to his father, who had begun pour a glass of wine "thank you for coming for me father, I will see you at the palace."

The Ice King's expression was unreadable but he gave a terse nod of acknowledgement, allowing his son to float away still dragging his severed limbs along behind him. As the doors to his chambers closed King Cold sat and pondered the exchange with his son, he didn't like it, something was different about Frieza he could see it, he would need to keep an eye on him without making it too obvious, but how? Those were thoughts for later though, he had business to attend to with an apparent uprising in an outer sector of the galaxy. Standing up King Cold made his was across his quarters until he felt a soft squish between his toes, staring down he could see the exquisite carpet, worth no less than three planets, had been stained with a dark purple liquid. Frieza had been dripping from his open wounds onto the carpet. Shattering the wine glass in his hand the King grumbled as he exited his chambers, atomizing a saluting soldier as he left made him feel a little better but it was marginal at best.

* * *

Nadan had been waiting in the spaceport for nearly two hours as King Cold's saucer began its approach. "About time" the Malakan scientist grumbled his cyan Mohawk swaying slightly as he turned his head to his partner beside him. Once again Tukkan seemed oblivious to the world around him as Nadan tried to get the Konatsian's attention. This was always the case in heavily populated areas like this, the idiot was so caught up in gawking at beautiful women that he failed to notice anything else around him. Nadan swore if it wasn't for Tukkan's peerless acumen in the kitchen he would never had found his place alongside Lord Frieza.

"Hey look Nad isn't that Cold's ship right there?" Tukkan was pointing at the massive saucer that had just finished its landing procedures. "Good thing I spotted it for you Nad you might have missed it" Tukkan grinned sheepishly as Nadan bristled with indignation. "What? Did I say something wrong?" Tukkan ran his hand through his silver hair as he grinned at his partner. Both had been friends for years now and had found themselves both under the employ of Frieza. Where Tukkan was unmatched in the culinary arts, Nadan was a scientist beyond comparison, both had proved themselves invaluable to the Frost Demon on many occasions.

Brushing aside Tukkan's grin Nadan began walking towards the ship, Frieza had been brief in the call he made but he had requested to have the operating room at the palace prepped. Everything was set up back at the palace, now all that was left was to retrieve the patient. Nadan personally never thought he would have to perform surgery on the tyrant. Who could have possibly hurt him so much he needed Nadan's help?

"So what kind of mood do you think he's in?" Tukkan asked nonchalantly as he placed both hands behind his head.

"Well, from the sound of it he's coming home emptyhanded, has had to spend about twenty four hours in a confined space with his father and he apparently needs my help so…" Nadan trailed off seeing a large crowd gathered in front of them.

They were a motley crew of various species, all of them bore typical combat armour but as one of them turned Nadan saw the symbol for King Cold's personal medical staff. Glancing to the side Nadan's eyes locked with Tukkan's both sharing a quick nod as they approached the group.

"Hey there fellas!" Tukkan called out to the group garnering their attention immediately. Tukkan came to a halt along with Nadan as they came face to face with the group before them. "I didn't think Cold's crew needed patching up, what happened they run into pirates or something?" Tukkan inquired jokingly, of the two of them Nadan usually left small talk to the Konatsian where as he took care of the more practical matters.

"Were not here for them" a large red skinned Beppan stepped forward puffing out his chest in a show of intimidation. The display left little impact though as Tukkan smiled up at him much to the musclehead's chagrin.

"So if you're not here for the boys, then why the crowd?" Tukkan asked placing a finger on the tip of his chin in mock contemplation.

"If you got to know Lord Frieza got hurt on a mission, we're here to make sure he's taken care of" the Beppan replied drily before turning back to the ship.

Tukkan was about to continue until Nadan jumped in at that point. "Excuse me" he stated sharply gathering the entire groups attention this time. Undeterred Nadan addressed the Beppan as he seemed to be the leader of the group. "Lord Frieza is our patient, we have orders from the Prince himself to take him to the palace" he paused narrowing his eyes as he did so "and ensure no one else goes near him."

"Well good for you short-stack , but our orders come from the King" one of the other's called out, a pale green Iru. "Last time I checked King trumps Prince doesn't it?" He smiled smugly as Nadan gave a snort of derision.

"As far as I'm concerned doctor trumps all of you simpletons now move aside at once" Nadan answered back. For someone who was just barely four feet tall the Malakan prodigy was about as fearless as they came.

"Pfft tell it to King Cold shorty" the Beppan laughed along with the rest of his group.

"I will say this one last time, we are here to retrieve Lord Frieza not you, now get lost!" Nadan was 110% done with this pack of clowns. Nadan had about a dozen other things he had to take care of today and conversing with a bunch of King Cold's goons was not one of them. Taking another few steps forward Nadan angrily poked the Beppan in the chest as he sneered up at the man who was almost three feet taller than him. "Lord Frieza is specifically waiting for us, now why don't you go run along before I make you regret it you brainless oaf!" Nadan barked at the group who scowled at the boisterous Malakan.

The Beppan in particular did not like that one bit, puffing out his chest he grabbed the Malakan's outstretched hand, then twisted it around causing Nadan to let out a pained cry. "Listen close lizard face, I'm in a good mood today so I'm only gonna tear off one arm, you got th- GAHH!" The rest of his sentence had been cut off as Tukkan planted his fist in the Beppan's exposed gut, forcing him to release Nadan and crumble to the ground in a heap.

"If you fellas are gonna get rough I suggest you try it with me first and leave my little buddy out of it." Tukkan had been enjoying the back and forth between the two until Nadan's scream, no one hurt his friend and got away with it. The rest of King Cold's thugs had begun to get into fighting positions when a voice rang out from behind them that made most of their faces pale in fear.

"Now what do we have here?" It was good to know that despite being only a floating torso with one arm Frieza could still instill such dread in this rabble of weaklings.

"L-Lord F-F-Frieza we're here by or-order of your fath-father" an emerald Brench with deep purple hair had managed to squeak out to the Frost Demon who was still floating there slowly dripping blood onto the steel floor.

"Yes I've been informed of this by my father already, your services will not be needed you may collect your friend and leave, immediately." Frieza made sure to place a dark scowl on his face to emphasize his point in the matter.

"But my Lord, if we don't do this the King will have our hea-AHH!" A Death Beam tore through the Brench's heart before he could finish, causing the rest of the group to jump back in terror.

"Let me make this clear, I will not be going with you I don't care what my father told you, so either die to him or die to me." Frieza could still see the indecision on their faces so to drive the point he began to charge another Death Beam pointing at the next victim of the group "your choice."

The retrieval group finally broke losing all composure and scattering along with most other people in the landing zone leaving Frieza alone with Nadan, Tukkan and the still unconscious Beppan.

"Much appreciated my Lord, I was worried they would be a problem" Nadan was walking forward towards the tyrant with arms outstretched motioning for Frieza's severed limbs.

"Come on Nad I could have taken them no sweat they were pushovers" Tukkan chuckled rustling the Malakan's hair as he loaded the Frost Demon's limbs into Nadan's arms. "I got to say Frieza I don't think you really needed to kill the poor idiot he was just following orders" Tukkan had been poking the Brench's corpse with his foot while he was conversing with the despot.

"Humph, the fools weren't going to listen without a little persuasion" Frieza waved off his comment. For a chef Tukkan was impressively strong, on par with Frieza's first suppressed form, he simply had a distaste for fighting. That was fine with Frieza as his true strength lay in his unprecedented culinary abilities. "Now let's get back to the palace, do you think you can reattach my limbs?" He turned to Nadan as he asked the question.

"It will take a lot of recovery time, but I shouldn't have too much trouble reattaching your limbs my Lord" the confidence in his voice reassured the tyrant he could always count on Nadan to accomplish any task given to him.

"Excellent then let us be off" Frieza sighed, the exhaustion of the last few weeks finally setting in.

"Sure thing Frieza don't worry I'll drive" Tukkan announced proudly, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"Oh lord" Frieza grimaced at the thought of the chef's driving abilities, this is how it all ends.

* * *

Frieza was lying on a cold operating table, hooked up to various machines that were monitoring his vitals. He had been in this state for the last hour and thirty minutes and was beginning to wonder what was taking the Nadan so long to return. All the scientist had told him was to get comfortable and wait for him to get back, Frieza wasn't even sure what the Malakan was doing, he had simply run off with his limbs and said they needed to be treated.

"Grrr where is he?" Frieza had been impatiently tapping the table with his remaining index finger, creating a dent in the once pristine surface.

Almost as if on cue the doors to the operating room slid open and Nadan walked in followed by a robot that carried with it Frieza's lower torso and arm. "You spend over a week out in the middle of space with nothing to do, but you can't sit still for an hour for me? I'm hurt my Lord." That was surprising, the Malakan wasn't usually the joking type, although he did seem more self-confident while in his lab.

"Humph, the difference is out in the middle of nowhere space I didn't have a choice but to wait." Using his Ki Frieza rotated himself to the closest thing he could get to a sitting position. "So are they ready?" The Frost Demon was impatient and wanted to be whole once again.

"Yes my Lord your extremities have now been treated, we needed to bring down the swelling first, looks like your muscles were stretched to their limit before they were cut off." The Malakan was almost business like in his recollection of the steps taken. "As your personal physician may I please ask that you don't expand your muscles to that size again it could cause lasting damage that even I can't fix" Nadan said as he looked over a datapad. "I ran several disinfectant procedures to ensure no bacteria had set in. Now that I have examined both wounds I can assure you we can reattach them, they will be as good as new."

"Excellent and to think my father was just willing to discard them and replace me with cybernetics, like I would allow that" a vein of agitation was beginning to expand on his forehead at the thought.

"Indeed, well I would have suggested something similar if you hadn't been able to retrieve your pieces my Lord" Nadan had begun placing the limbs on the operating table in the required positions to continue with the procedure. "Now Lord Frieza if you are ready I will administer the sedative so we can proceed with the operation."

"No" the word rang out causing he doctor to look at Frieza with a shocked expression.

"But my Lord if we don't sedate you the pain would be excruciating!" Worry had creased the scientist's face which Frieza had taken note of, why did he look so concerned?

"Will the pain kill me?" was the Tyrant's only response.

"Well no of course not" the Malakan stuttered out surprise evident in his voice.

"Then proceed with the procedure if it won't kill me then I have nothing to fear, besides if I'm asleep my telekinesis will lift and my organs will spill out, I don't believe you want to deal with that mess as well." Frieza had to chuckle at that part, he knew full well that without his hold on his organs the operation would be far more difficult to perform.

After several moments of silent contemplation Nadan turned his head to Frieza and slowly nodded his head. "I'll do it my Lord but I want it noted how against this idea I am."

Placing a hand on the scientist's shoulder Frieza gave him the closest thing he could to a reassuring smile "you've never let me down in the past I don't believe you will start here." Why had he done that, surely just to ease the scientist's nerves so the operation would proceed smoothly right?

Shaking his head slightly at the thoughts Frieza focused once more "now let's get this over with already."

* * *

Nadan had been correct that hurt, that really hurt! Far more than losing the limbs in the first place, but Frieza toughed out the surgery and was now floating in one of the palace's Bacta Tanks. He could feel his strength returning to him quickly, he even noticed his tail was almost fully grown again, he hadn't expected that to happen for another few weeks. Now all that was left was to wait just like he had been doing for the past week, he had stayed awake for the entire operation, and was now sitting at over ten days without sleep, a small nap while waiting couldn't hurt right?

"Frieza! Please pay attention darling, you too Cooler, don't think I don't see you" Queen Skadi stood before her two sons with arms folded a small smirk gracing her stunning features. Tall and elegant she commanded respect from all those around her but carried an expression of nurturing compassion. Light gleamed off the ebony bio-gems embedded in her head, forearms and on either side of her ankles, and her crimson skin brightly shone in the afternoon light. She was the epitome of beauty among her people.

"But mother I don't see why I need to be here, Frieza's the one who injured those other kids" Cooler pouted, crossing his arms in annoyance, he could be having fun. Instead he was stuck in the royal gardens listening to a lecture from their mother and all because Frieza was a total brat.

"Because this is a discussion that applies to you as well dear now please sit with your brother." Cooler reluctantly planted himself in a cross legged position, grunting to acknowledge his attentiveness. "Excellent, now darlings you are incredibly powerful, even being so young you already far exceed most of our people in terms of raw strength" she paused a moment to make sure she had her sons' attention. "Now with such great strength comes a certain level of responsibility that you will need to hold yourselves to. You will one day take over the kingdom from your father and I and when that day finally comes you will have to think of how you will rule."

Queen Skadi paused again a flash of sadness could just barely be detected on her face before she continued. "Your father runs the kingdom through force and fear and while he has control now it is fleeting" her voice became more solemn at that point matching the sadness that had passed over her beautiful features. "I know he wants you both to follow in his footsteps, but you can aspire to so much more, you have been born with amazing gifts darlings and I know you can use them to make this universe a better place." With that she placed a loving hand on both her sons' shoulders smiling warmly at them.

"But father said it's our duty to rule in his stead mother" Cooler asked listening to every word his mother had said.

"Yes that is true one day one of you will take over for him, I just hope to steer you from the path of the tyrant and into one of a peacekeeper. Your father doesn't understand this but he has stepped on so many lives, and when the downtrodden are given the right spark it will ignite their passion, and give them the strength to fight back." The usually lighthearted Frost Demoness looked to the sky trying to hide the tears in her eyes, thinking of the monster her once loving husband had become.

"Frieza, Cooler just remember that power can corrupt but the ways of truth and love will always be stronger, tyrants and despots may seem invincible for a time, but they will always fall, it is our heroes who are immortalized." She looked from one son to the other, taking them in, they were the center of her life her reason for being and she could only prey that they would become the heroes she knew they could be. "That means you no more getting into fights with the other kids dear" she smiled at Frieza who looked away awkwardly.

A loud cough rang out from across the garden gaining the three royal's attention. Standing with his arms crossed was King Cold an unreadable expression on his face.

Turning back to her sons Queen Skadi took them both in her arms giving both a powerful hug, and gently kissed each on the brow.

"Mother is everything ok?" It was the first thing Frieza had said since the start of their conversation, a look of concern was splashed across his face.

"Don't fret sweetheart your father and I just need to have a discussion, now remember what I said and run along, I'll see you later." But that had been the last time the princes got to see her. Shortly after leaving the gardens Fuar had come under attack from rebels and Queen Skadi fell defending her kingdom alongside her husband and king. So great was their enemies that King Cold was forced to go to his fully unsealed form to combat them, it had been the only time he had ever done so. That was what their father had told both Frieza and Cooler, both had their doubts but at the time they were in the middle of grieving, they never thought to look further into it especially since rebel attacks were nothing new. Even now the memory of that fateful day brought back nothing but pain.

The last memory he had of his beloved mother was of her asking him not to fall to temptation, to be a hero and use his powers for the benefit of all. What a laugh! Wherever his mother was now, Frieza knew that if she could see him she would be so disappointed.

* * *

"Who do you think you are? Lord Frieza is my patient and I say he needs to rest!" Nadan's shrill voice jolted Frieza awake. Still a little drowsy from the treatment the Frost Demon was content to simply listen to what was going on outside the Bacta Tank.

"I've been ordered to speak with Lord Frieza as soon as possible, seeing how he's right here I'll just wait, I'd rather not miss him when he wakes." Now that was a new voice Frieza had never heard her before, her voice had a mildly sardonic quality which the Frost Demon couldn't help but enjoy hearing. "If you don't want me here you can always try moving me yourself, I don't recommend it but that option is open to you" the mystery woman continued with a small chuckle.

"W-why you, you, this is my operating room I demand you leave at once!" Frieza had to admire the scientist for his dedication to his patient, it was one of the Malakan's more endearing qualities. So rather than listen to the back and forth argument that he could feel coming, the Frost Demon decided he had healed up enough and opened his eyes.

The view was not what he had expected, Frieza was ready for the young lizard like scientist what he got instead was far more pleasing to the eye. As the blue liquid of the medicine machine began to drain away he could now see the mystery woman properly. She was bent over staring directly into Frieza's eyes with her own azure eyes, which matched the rest of her skin. 'A Securan' Frieza commented to himself I wonder what she wants. As Frieza stepped out of the tank he studied the woman in front of him. Instead of hair she had what the Frost Demon could only describe as a slender head-tail stretching from the back of her head down to her waist.

She had a lean frame and wore a chest plate covering her upper torso, underneath the armour she appeared to be wearing some form of skin tight underlining. She bore a pair of similarly coloured gauntlets, one on each forearm. To tie the whole look together she wore pants that accentuated the curves of her hips and legs. The entire ensemble was black with ivory lines running along the edges of her armour, the only exception was a crimson emblem on her left breast plate.

"And who might you be?" asked Frieza as he stepped forward cracking his neck in the process, sitting in a healing tank for hours on end had a way of stiffening ones muscles. "I wasn't expecting any visitors just yet."

"I'm here by order of your father Lord Frieza, the name's Aayla Talon" she said bowing as she did so.

"Not even out of the healing tank and he's already checking up on me, well you can tell him I'm fine" how ridiculous thought Frieza , his father was already meddling in his affairs, he was not a child he did not need to be coddled and the nerve of sending someone else to do it for him.

"Actually my Lord I'm here to take command of your personal security force, by direct order of the king" she said flashing a small smile as she did so.

"What are you talking about? I've never had a personal security force" Frieza couldn't believe what he was hearing, seriously what nonsense was this? While yes Zarbon and Dodoria had been his right hand men, Frieza could hardly consider them capable of guarding him. The simple fact was that he never needed anyone to protect him, he was more powerful than any other adversary he ever came across.

"Well you do now my Lord, as per your father's orders, he said that after what happened on Namek he thought you could use a little extra protection." Frieza couldn't decide if the small grin on her face was charming or absolutely infuriating.

Not being in the mood to argue, Frieza shook his head and began walking to the doors "I'll just have to discuss this with my father then, so where is the rest of the force then?"

"Umm, you're looking at the force My Lord" Aayla had her arms stretched out in a form of presentation, "don't worry my role is to only assist you if and when you need help."

"Humph that'll be the day" the Frost Demon scoffed at the notion that anyone could help him in a fight. Turning to Nadan, who had been standing in the background observing the curious scene unfold, "you've done a fine job Nadan, I'm almost back to 100%, I will take care of the rest myself. But I now have a new job for you."

"Of course my Lord what else can I do for you?" The Malakan asked excitedly, he enjoyed staying busy. His days could sometime become dreadfully dull so when he was given a new task he would tackle it with gusto.

"Well as you know my old saucer was destroyed along with Namek, now that I've had some time to think about it, I believe it's time for a new ship, I'm putting you in charge of acquiring a new one." Frieza looked down at the scientist expectantly "and not like that old eyesore either, try finding something sleek and stylish, something that screams 'Suck it Cooler'."

"Of course anything functional that you would like added?" Nadan had already begun jotting notes into his datapad.

"Something that can crewed by with only a few people, top of the line shielding and weapon systems" Frieza had to think about the next request, was it worth it? An image of cold blue-green eyes flashed in his mind. "And see if there's one with an environmental training room" if he wanted to defeat the Super Saiyan Frieza knew he would have to train and become even stronger.

"I will do my best my Lord, is there a colour you would prefer?" Frieza couldn't tell if Nadan was joking or not so he just answered anyway. "We'll get the ship first and have it painted later."

"I think a black base with some green trim along the edge and splashing in some yellow in the right spots would look good on any ship" the cheery voice of Aayla rang out in the lab, causing the tyrant to slowly turn his head towards her.

"I didn't realise you were still here, don't you have other things you could be doing?" Frieza wasn't quite annoyed yet but he was certainly getting there with this one.

"Sorry my Lord I have strict orders to stay with you and help keep you safe" she smiled cheerily at the tyrant who could end her in an instant.

"If I were to come under attack and needed, pfft assistance, how would you be able to help" the smirk across Frieza's face was matched only by the one across Aayla's.

"Last time I clocked my power level I was sitting at about 2.5 million, so I'm already stronger than most, plus the more I train the stronger I become so there's always room for improvement." Aayla crossed her arms smugly at Frieza's surprised expression.

Frieza shifted his gaze over to Nadan who slowly nodded his head in confirmation, 2.5 million was actually stronger than Frieza's assault form (third form). A new idea formed in Frieza's mind bringing a grin to his face, "very well then if that's the case then I have a proposition for you, I do not need a personal bodyguard, what I do require is a sparring partner perhaps you can fill that role instead."

"Deal I can do both at the same time" holding out her hand, Frieza reluctantly shook it to solidify their new arrangement. "Looks like you're stuck with me now."

* * *

Seluba was pissed, he had been flying for over an hour now searching for his quarry without any luck. Maybe that merchant had lied to him, sent him off on a wild space goose chase to the middle of nowhere? Clenching his fists the Crodan decided he would search for another thirty minutes before calling it quits. Luckily for Seluba he found his target just a few minutes later sitting atop a mountain in a meditative stance.

Seluba had never seen anyone like him before; he wore simple long white robes that stretched all the way down, with a black sash that acted as a belt, underneath the robes he wore a plain black sleeveless undershirt. At first glance he thought the meditating man was a Namekian but upon closer inspection he could see the only true similarity was that they shared a similar skin colour. He had no nose and his ears were flat against the sides of his head and looked square in shape. He bore no hair but instead had several black spots that dotted the crown of his head.

The strange man sat there perfectly still as Seluba made his landing, he hadn't even opened his eyes, maybe he was asleep? Several tense seconds passed before Seluba decided to break the silence with a loud cough. "Excuse me but I'm looking for someone, you wouldn't know where I could find a man named Shuyo Lool would you?"

The seated man slowly opened his eyes to reveal crimson pupils that seemed to stare into Seluba's very soul. "I am Shuyo who might you be, and why did you feel the need to disturb my meditation." His voice was deep and smooth and exuded a sense of serenity almost like that of a monk.

Seluba's mandibles clicked in anticipation, this was it his only chance "I've come to request your help, my name is Seluba, I'm the leader of the Galactic Freedom Movement perhaps you've heard of us?" a bead of sweat formed on his brow under the piercing gaze of the man in front of him.

"Yes I've heard of your movement you look to overthrow the Cold Empire and bring peace back to the galaxy, or at least that's what your campaigns say." Shuyo was no fool he knew that while the goals of the Movement were pure its leaders were just as corrupt and amoral as the tyrants they wished to overthrow. Shuyo had always prided himself on being a good judge of one's character, a little telepathy didn't hurt either. While he couldn't get exact details he could get a general idea of the bug man's inner thoughts.

The insectoid leader clicked his mandibles nervously, there was something unnerving about this guy. Taking a moment to regain his composure Seluba continued with his spiel "we've been working on a major push to free everyone from Cold's dictatorship, we have several units ready to rise up on various planets when the word is given and we have amassed a fleet that we will use to rid the galaxy of King Cold and his sons."

"Victory through violence, what a novel concept" Shuyo couldn't help but chuckle drily, the irony was palpable. "That still doesn't explain why you want me, you knew my name so you should already know I have no interest in fighting a war."

"No we don't want that, our army is already mighty enough to hold its own against King Cold's forces. It's the Cold family itself that we need you to help with, Cold, Frieza and Cooler are too strong for any of us to fight without taking severe casualties." He paused to catch his breath before continuing "that's why we need you, if the rumours are true you are as strong if not stronger than Frieza. We only request you defeat the three Frost Demons, they are evil and perpetuating the state of the galaxy." Seluba was hoping his words were having an impact on the seemingly impassive Shuyo.

"So you wish for me to overthrow a dictator, three of them to be precise?" raising an eyebrow as he continued his attempts gain access to the bug's mind, it was locked up tight, he was only getting vague emotional imprints but nothing concrete. The Crodan had something locked up tight in there, something he kept out of reach of everyone, possibly even himself.

"You won't be alone I assure you, but yes between the three of them their body counts are in the hundreds of billions, they must be removed." Seluba felt like he was making progress, he needed to be making progress.

"You realise their demise will only generate a power vacuum? One that could plunge the entire galaxy into turmoil." Shuyo knew where this was heading he was just waiting for him to say it, he had made his decision. As tempting as it was to overthrow an evil tyrant and his megalomaniacal family, doing so just to let someone like this slime ball take over in their stead was not an appealing thought. Shuyo had heard the rumours of the Crodan leader, that he was as ruthless as the Frost Demons themselves and was a master of manipulation.

"That's where the Movement really steps up we would take command forming a proper democracy" Damn! He could see that Shuyo wasn't buying it he had to pull out his trump card, the truth. "I won't lie to you my goals are not to rule, I want revenge for my people, I'm the last Crodan in the universe" that seemed to get Shuyo's attention, time to pour it on. "I was an ambassador for my people I was in negotiations with Frieza, I tried everything and no matter what I did I couldn't stop him from destroying my planet, 32 billion Crodan lives snuffed out in an instant. I want, no I need to ensure that this stops, but I need you to help us, we need your strength."

Shuyo sat there pondering his words and what little of the emotional spectrum he could from the lone bug. Sighing to himself Shuyo stood revealing his towering stature, holding out a strong hand reluctantly. In truth Shuyo had been toying with the idea of dethroning the Frost Demons, however an adequate opportunity never presented itself. However now with the backing of the GFM perhaps he could depose the galactic tyrants and place someone else in charge. Not another tyrant or even himself and certainly not the duplicitous bug before him but someone better.

Seluba couldn't believe his eyes "Y-you will help us?" astonished that he could actually convince Shuyo to join their cause. He quickly grabbed hold of his hand and shook feverishly "you won't regret this my friend together we are going to change the universe."

"I will overthrow the Cold Family nothing more nothing less" the stoic monk stated flatly wondering to himself what he was getting himself into.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone sorry about how long this took to come out, i just want to thank everyone for their feedback, special shout out to WolveHulk for giving me some good ideas.**

 **So I feel like i need to clarify some of the species names i used mainly Nadan, so I've called him a Malakan after the scientist from the show, just google DBZ Malaka and you'll see what I mean. Seluba is essentially a Prawn from District 9, i'll get more descriptive with him in the next chapter, as you might guess Shuyo is of the same race as Pykkon and I won't be giving their race a name because it fits with his story which we will delve into later. Tukkan is of the same race as Tapion, he's essentially going to be Sanji from one piece minus the womanizing. As for the Beppan and Brench, those are Dore's and Salza's respective races.**

 **I really wanted to emphasize King Cold's influence on his sons in this chapter because I do feel a child's personality is formed by their upbringing.**

 **Well i've rambled long enough, as always if you have any questions feel free to ask i'll do my best to answer every question (spoiler free).**

 **I hope you guys enjoy**


	3. Chapter 3 - Bonding

"As you can see my Lord the rebellions on planets Gelbo, Ikonda and Kabocha have been effectively quelled" a bead of sweat rolled down the soldier's face as he recapped the latest field reports. Clearly he had bad news otherwise his legs wouldn't be trembling. He had been sidestepping the news for the last three minutes and Frieza was done with it.

"Just tell me the bad news already Corporal….. Whatever your name is" Frieza had hoped to start his training the moment he was out of Nadan's lab. Instead he had to deal with a seemingly never ending parade of tedious meetings, pointless negotiations and charts, SO MANY WORTHLESS CHARTS! Apparently being gone for more than a week and being pronounced dead has a major effect on a galaxy spanning empire. Everything that could have gone wrong had happened all at once in his absence, revolutions, uprisings, assassinations, toilets backing up, everything and now he was dealing with the fallout.

The panic in the soldier's voice was overwhelming as he almost screamed out the rest of the report. "Rebels managed to push back our forces on Planets Tech-Tech, Polaris, Shun, Mulfar and Diaval PLEASE DON'T KILL ME I HAVE A FAMILY!" He broke down into terror stricken hysterics on the ground as the Frost Demon looked down on him with complete indifference.

Pinching his nose Frieza waved over his newest assistant "Aayla please escort…. Whatever his name is, out of here at once." This had happened now on four separate occasions and it was starting to get very old. Maybe walking around in his unsealed form was putting his subordinates on edge? They certainly seemed to tremble more around him than before. But the Frost Demon knew if he was ever going to get the edge on that monkey he would need to get used to his full power and get it under control.

Getting control over his own power wasn't enough though, Frieza knew if he pushed himself he could become even stronger than before. Frieza had only trained sparingly throughout his life up until that point. He never truly needed to as no one in the universe had even hoped to match his might. Now the one time Frieza absolutely needed to train and begin his new regimen he couldn't, and all because of the responsibilities of running an Empire.

Truth be told this wasn't all that different from his usual day to day business before the Namek incident. He couldn't place his finger on it but something was different, Zarbon and Dodoria were no longer around but that couldn't be it, their company had been lackluster at the best of times.

Sighing to himself Frieza tapped a button on the conference table he had been sitting at signalling the next person in line to enter. As the doors slid open Frieza caught a glimpse of the line outside, it seemed to stretch forever! The very thought that he would be spending the rest of the day listening to the inane drivel of his subordinates' reports caused a vein to protrude from the Frost Demon's head.

Undoubtedly the image of the planet killing tyrant with clenched teeth, massive vein protruding from his forehead and purple Ki enveloping his body was terror incarnate for the soldier. The moment Captain Pui-Pui entered the conference room the trembling began. "G-greetings L-Lord F-F-Frieza, I have the l-latest c-charts on our…" He had been cut off by the roar of a Death Beam passing by his head, missing by a mere fraction of a millimetre.

"NO. MORE. DAMN. CHARTS!" That had been the last straw the massive line, the charts, the tedium, the charts, the paperwork, THE CHARTS! Frieza could not take it anymore he had to get out, he needed to breath, he needed to do something other than this.

Whipping his head over to Aayla, she was staring back with a bemused smirk. "You, me, train, now" this was not a request, Frieza needed to get out and he needed it right now. With a grunt of frustration he flung the chair he had been sitting in aside and took off smashing the wall to pieces as he slammed through it.

Aayla couldn't help laughing, she knew Frieza's temper was coming to a boil, she had been watching him simmer all afternoon. Turning around she saw the terrified Pui-Pui in the corner of the room shivering "sorry I think he's just a little... pent up, don't take it personally." With that she followed through the hole left by the tyrant, excited to finally get some action "this is gonna be fun."

* * *

Seluba stood at a command console reading information as it was streamed to him in the GFM capital ship Freedom's Hammer. The information being sent to him was from across the galaxy, updates on the failures and successes of their forces, the results were mostly in their favour. They were able to secure most victories through their strength in numbers and the fiery passion to overthrow their oppressors. There were only two major problems though, Cooler and King Cold.

Cooler had been leading his Armored Squadron in the counter offensives in the Outer Rim, easily crushing the resistance members. The elder of the Frost Princes seemed to have a real knack for tracking down resistance leadership and stomping it out causing the rest of the cell to break down in the process. Though Seluba had never met the Frost Demon himself, the reports on his attitude and behaviour were quite different from that of his father and brother. Unlike his family the reports stated Cooler took no pleasure from killing his adversaries, he kept worlds intact and he actually treated his enemies with a modicum of respect. However he was still a cold calculated killing machine that had a body count in the millions, not as high as his brother but still significant enough to warrant attention.

Then there was King Cold who was on a terrifying rampage, it seemed after his son's defeat over three months ago the King was on a mission to remind the galaxy that his empire would never fall. Whenever his ship entered a system in turmoil there were one of two options he would proceed with.

Option 1: Throw a stupid number of troops at the resistance forces until they were simply overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Option 2: Blow the planet up from orbit.

As time passed it seemed the Frost King had been siding to option 2 more and more often. Whether that was because of his own impatience or the fact that he was losing so many troops in these ground assaults didn't really matter. The point was he had blown up the last five planets he came across and there was no sign of him stopping from there. That was also why the base of operations had been moved to Freedom's Hammer, they had just barely made it off of Kerbal, the former base, before Cold hurled a massive Supernova at the planet.

The doors slid open behind Seluba causing the Crodan to jump in fright, but it was just Shuyo, this whole campaign had caused the bug man a life's worth of anxiety. He was jumping at loud noises, shadows even his own pet Cattilian. It was getting ridiculous he kept expecting Frieza or one of his family members to just appear around a corner and obliterate him. This was no way to live.

As the mystery warrior approached the Crodan he could feel the distress emanating from him, over the past few months he had gotten to know the insectoid being a bit better. He still couldn't get a full read of his thoughts but he had improved his understanding of the Movement leader's emotional spectrum. It was because of this that Shuyo chose not to get to close to him, while his end goal was beneficial for the galaxy his motivations were purely selfish. He was a being who lost everything and would do anything to get revenge, the fact that he actively plunged the galaxy into a war, one that had already cost billions of lives, showed just how far he would go.

"You seem distressed" it was purely rhetorical but Shuyo had yet to let Seluba know about his telepathy and wanted to keep it that way.

"I've just received the reports, Cooler just wiped out our leadership on Trost and he's left a garrison to keep an eye on it." It wasn't the worst news in the universe they could defeat the garrison with a well-planned attack. "King Cold is the real problem though, that planet killing nutcase has been on a roll he just atomized Lindle and Tal'oon." Every time he received a report of the destruction of a world he would be brought back to the loss of his own. And with those memories came all the pain, regret and hatred that had been simmering inside him. "Distressed doesn't really cover what I'm feeling, we need to put those monsters down."

"Then why have you asked me to stay put, why hold me back while world after world falls?" Shuyo was very curious about this, every time it seemed like a prime opportunity to go on the offensive the Crodan had held back. "I can understand not going after Cooler, his attacks have been unpredictable, but Cold is making a straight path through your territory, his next target will clearly be this red planet" he pointed at the view screen marking a swath of destruction that extended straight into GFM space.

"Yes that's Planet Shulk I assure you their sacrifice is necessary, they will not be forgotten" it was callous comments like that which gave Shuyo such unease around the Crodan, he was willing to write off another twenty million lives just for his own revenge.

"You still didn't answer my question why haven't you asked me to fight them?" Shuyo could sense that Seluba didn't like the way he asked the question but he had to, Shuyo needed a concrete answer as he felt like he was wasting his time on this ship.

"Look if you kill just one of them that will bring the combined might of the other two, undoubtedly they would bring their entire forces to focus on just you." The Crodan had paused to read another message this time a good one which brought a small smile to his features. "If we want to end this we need to wipe out all three in rapid succession" his mandibles involuntarily clicked together at the thought of the dead monarchs.

"They are spread out all over the galaxy, how do you expect to bring them together in one place?" Shuyo was getting another uneasy feeling as he felt the Crodan's emotional shift from one of stress and apprehension to what could only be described as morbid glee.

"Simple we make it so that they have to be in one place at the same time" waving a hand over the view screen he pulled up a planet, moderately sized but from the look of its climate descriptions it sounded completely unlivable. This is Planet Fuar, capital of the Frost Demons, mostly covered by ice, snow and dreadful storms" he waved his hand again this time pulling up one of the cities, "this is one of their cities, you see the storms that rage on the planet are actually strong enough to level one of them."

"Your point?" Shuyo didn't like where this line of thought was going but he would let Seluba finish before passing his own judgement.

"My point is to protect against these storms they have shield generators that encapsulate each city to keep them safe." He took a short pause to ensure Shuyo was following before continuing "if those shields were to go down, let's say do to an 'accident', well that would leave their cities defenseless" he smugly crossed his four appendages in triumph.

"So you would destroy several cities filled with people who have nothing to do with King Cold's tyranny, and for what reason? These storms wouldn't harm Frieza, Cooler or Cold your plan would simply cause pain and suffering to the innocent." Shuyo was usually able to hold himself with a stoic disposition but this was appalling and he would not stand for it.

"Listen this whole plan is to draw in the other two, Frieza is still on Fuar right now but Cold and Cooler are off in completely separate ends of the galaxy. A terrible tragedy like this would force the monarchy to gather together if for nothing other than to appear to care for their subjects." He clicked his mandibles gleefully it was the perfect plan to draw in the three royals, remove the city shields leaving them vulnerable the storms that enveloped the planet.

"Bait, you're using innocent lives as bait to draw them out" Shuyo was utterly calm as he grabbed the Crodan by the neck a fierce glow emanating from his body. "I will not allow such an underhanded tactic Seluba if you want my assistance then you will cancel this operation or else" Shuyo knew the Crodan needed him, the GFM's forces were plentiful but against one of the three royals they would be quickly swept away.

Clicking his mandibles in agitation the Crodan angrily pointed at the green man "fine I will cancel the order, but you are dooming another few billion lives, I hope your conscience can handle that." For the first time since they had met Shuyo looked visibly unsure of himself at what Seluba had said.

Without so much as a follow up comment Shuyo spun around and left the communication center. Seluba returned once again scanning the information from the console, obviously he would still go through with the sabotage plan but he needed to reschedule it. What Seluba had left out from his explanation was that with the shields down he would be able to send in strike ships to begin bombing runs, couple that with the sleeper agents on Fuar and the chaos and confusion would certainly draw the monarchs back home. Once they were all in one place the full might of the GFM fleet would crash down upon them. The thought of taking everything away from Frieza and his family filled the rebel leader with a surge of joy.

One good thing did come from this little meeting he placed doubt in Shuyo's mind and with the mounting body count being left on the green man's conscience it almost assured his assistance when the time would come.

Clicking happily to himself this little 'setback' might just be the best thing to happen all day.

* * *

"Giga Cannon!" Frieza barely had a second to react to the incoming sphere of crimson energy, closing his guard he was able to block most of the blast.

"You know that's the fifth time I've stopped one of your attacks because you insist on shouting it first." Frieza couldn't help but return the smirk he was receiving from Aayla, her lighthearted nature in combat was somewhat infectious.

"Oh come on Frieza that's half the fun" she winked at her sparring partner as her finger tips glowed. She moved her fingers in front of her leaving trails of crimson Ki in front of her "Zeta Slash!" the lines formed erupted into a barrage of blades heading straight for the tyrant.

"Two can play that game" forming two purple Ki disks in each hand, Frieza still felt uneasy about using this technique but he knew he would have to learn to get over it. "Death Saucer Barrage!" Frieza hurled both disks at the incoming maelstrom, the disks broke into six smaller versions each of which intercepting Aaylas storm of blades. The impact of the attacks brought forth a blinding flash of light forcing Frieza to briefly cover his eyes from the glare.

"Theta Crush" the whisper in his ear came a fraction of a second before the stream of Ki that slammed into Frieza's back driving him into the arena's ground.

Frieza was quick to recover from the impact and hopped out of the crater stretching his back while doing so. Staring at the Securan warrior he couldn't help smile, the progress they had both made from sparring over the past four months was absurd. Aayla in particular was already on par with his own strength back on Namek and he loved it! She was capable of pushing him during every match, granted the Frost Demon did have to hold back the first week but soon her unique adaptive genetics kicked in and they were both going all out.

His thoughts were cut off by a loud siren "time's up and that's the match!" Tukkan's voice rang out over the training grounds loudspeaker. With the Konatsian chef's declaration the audience that had been holding its collective breath let loose into a round of raucous cheers. The sound of cheering and applause rang through the arena causing both Aayla and Frieza to grin at each other.

Their training sessions had become quite popular with the citizens of Fuar drawing hundreds to Ymir Arena to watch the matches. At first Frieza had been against the idea, the only reason they used the arena was because of its environmental controls that allowed them to adjust everything from temperature to gravity. The audience had started with a small group of three kids but quickly the crowds grew and Frieza had to admit the sounds of cheering brought a warmth to his heart that he didn't quite recognize.

"That's another fantastic match from the blue beauty Aayla Talon and white warlord Frieza! Now who here thinks our Lord Frieza took that match?" The roar from the stands was deafening as the viewers shouted their approval. "Not bad not bad, but now who thinks the lovely Aayla secured victory?" The response from the crowd shook the ground as people shouted and jumped in their seats.

"Alright then sounds like a decisive answer the winner of today's match is AAYLA TALON!" The arena erupted into further cheers as Aayla touched down beside the tyrant.

"Good work out boss" the Securan warrior was giving a thumb up as she cracked her neck, "I guess I win this one."

"One out of fifty is ok I suppose" Frieza shrugged. The Frost Demon was the first to admit he was a sore loser, but these matches felt different there was nothing truly on the line, win or lose Frieza became stronger and so even when he lost he still won. A pleasant side effect of these sparring matches was moral amongst his troops, Frieza was getting less and less terrified looks from his subordinates and they were actually able to speak to him without stuttering over their words. While yes he still cared little for these tedious meetings at least now they were going by quicker.

Aayla and Frieza were halfway to the locker rooms and showers when Aayla ground to a halt. Turning around with a puzzled look Frieza raised an eyebrow examining the Securan warrior's face. "Is something wrong? I'm not used to seeing you look so serious."

"Don't worry Lord Frieza, I just remembered something I have to take care of I'll be back soon" and with that the azure beauty flew off at high speed leaving a confused Frieza in her wake.

"Where do you keep running off to? You haven't addressed me as lord since our first week, something is definitely wrong." The tyrant's train of thought was cut off by a small cough from behind him, standing behind him was one of the last things Frieza could have expected.

Children, three of them standing there with timid smiles "Hi Lord Frieza" they said in unison. They were a mixed group to say the least. In the middle and the apparent leader stood a young Frost Demon girl in her fully sealed form, she almost looked like a miniature version of Frieza but with emerald bio-gems and far smaller horns. The boy on the left resembled a human but with a few distinct differences, his eyes were vertical slits his arms were coated in black armored scales and he had a long serrated tail that ended in a sharp blade. The last child on the right was taller than the others, mainly because his neck was almost twice as long as normal, his skin was purple with no hair to speak of. And his four eyes were solid pools of cerulean, making it difficult to determine what he was looking at.

"Hello assortment of children I've never met before" Frieza couldn't help recalling his last interaction with children. That monkey's half breed child had packed quite a punch for his age.

The young Frost Demoness was the first to speak up "we wanted to say how awesome that last fight… how awesome all you're fights have been, we were hoping to meet with Ms. Aayla to but I guess she had to leave."

"Well it is nice to have some fans I suppose" chuckled Frieza "hang on." Taking a closer look at the group realisation dawned on the tyrant. "You were those kids who first watched our match."

"Yea well you see we were going to play some ball that day but then we saw you and Ms. Aayla were already there so we decided to stay and watch." The scaly humanoid was busy playing with his tail as he spoke.

"We've actually started training too so we can be as strong as you" it was the long necked child's turn to speak it seemed. "But I think we still have a long way to go."

This brought an amused chuckle from the elder Frost Demon "I was born with an unbelievable power but I'm sure if you work hard you can become quite powerful as well."

"You really think so?" the Demoness asked excitedly.

"Of course, anything's possible" Frieza realised he had grown to enjoy people looking up to him with admiration over fear, it simply felt better, the boost to his already enormous ego didn't hurt either. "Now then I have a shower to take and then I have some business to attend to, but I hope to see you three again we can get you introduced to Aayla."

A round of cheering greeted the Frost Demon's offer "thank you Lord Frieza" they said in unison bowing as they did so.

"Before I go what are your names?" Frieza asked, he usually wouldn't bother with the names of those he barely knew but there was something about this group.

"I'm Tyr" answered the scaly boy.

"I'm Raijin" stated the long necked child.

"And I'm The Amazing Frost Demoness Weiss!" The girl exclaimed as she planted her hands on her hips.

Another bemused chuckle graced Frieza's lips as he walked past the trio "take care you three."

* * *

"So Ms. Talon how has my son been performing, has there been any significant developments?" King Cold was sitting on the throne of his ship, sipping a particularly fine glass of Augustian wine, aged over two hundred years. Before him was the ships main viewing screen, and Aayla Talon was staring straight back with barely hidden disgust on her face. Oh she hated the King, he was fully aware of that, after all it was he who held the fate of her home planet in his hands.

"He's doing fine" her conversations with King Cold had always been so terse, and she seemed to be even more tense than usual.

"Come now my dear I don't keep your planet intact for three word sentences, I do require details." The smug look on his face was only matched by the hatred of hers.

"He's still training hard with me to defeat the Super Saiyan, and he still can't stand all the work you keep sending his way either." A slight sneer crossed her features, she had grown far bolder in the year that had passed since she began her duty to the monarch.

"Really now, and what doesn't he like about it?" He chuckled at all the administrative tasks that he had sent to his son, if he were to one day run the entire Planet Trade Organization he would need this experience.

"He's bored with it, Frieza doesn't realise it himself but I can tell he just runs through the motions, in fact the only time he seems to have any fun is when we're training." King Cold took a moment to consider what she had said, Frieza had always enjoyed the perks of running his own portion of the Empire, if he was bored with the work that he had once enjoyed then the King's suspicions of his sons attitude shift were correct. He also noted how Aayla referred to his son by his first name alone, not using Lord beforehand indicated how chummy she had become which of course King Cold did not approve of.

"Very well that is enough for now I expect a more thorough report next time Ms. Talon, I do hope you understand." With that he turned off the monitor and took another sip of wine, this was getting out of hand. Clearly his defeat at the hands of the super chimp had been more jarring than initially believed. The solution though seemed to be quite simple, "we just need to kill the Super Saiyan" King Cold chuckled to himself, surely that would solve this issue.

The sooner the Saiyan died the better, without the Saiyan then Frieza would stop that training nonsense he had been subjecting himself to. King Cold had received the reports, their matches were becoming as popular as sporting events maybe more so. And this surge in popularity caused others to begin training like the Frost Prince. Cold had to admit a stronger empire was in fact a good thing but an empire whose subjects could overthrow their emperor was a travesty. He would have to add that to the ever growing list of things he had to fix since Frieza's return from Namek, that boy was more trouble than he was worth sometimes.

Turning his attention over to the dome window of the bridge he could see a magnificent planet with massive purple oceans that shone like a jewel in the depths of space. Planet Souv'Laki was nothing short of breathtaking but that mattered little to the Frost Monarch. The rebellions that had erupted on this planet needed to be silenced immediately and he was more than obliged to use excessive force to get the job done. The only question he had though was would he side with option 1 or option 2? After a brief moment of consideration he once again chuckled to himself as he left for the airlock of his ship.

"Option 2 it is"

* * *

Those talks with King Cold were getting increasingly difficult for Aayla. The urge to tell the Frosty Bastard what he could do with their agreement became more and more tempting with each little chat. But she knew she would stick to her deal, despite not having any true ties to her home planet. No family as they had passed long ago and she didn't really have any friends to speak of, despite this she couldn't have an entire planet's destruction rest on her conscience.

She couldn't help but laugh to herself, she was sacrificing her own freedom for her people who saw her as a freak. Her people, the Securans, were naturally beautiful, often regarded as the most stunning race in the entire universe. Because of this her people had taken a strictly non-combative role in the universe falling into the role of 'exotic entertainment.' The thought of this disgusted the proud warrior, she had been born with a unique genetic mutation, her body could naturally adapt to any occurrence. If she caught a virus or other disease her body was able to quickly adapt and destroy the invaders and from that point on she was completely immune to that same disease.

If she broke a bone it would reset itself stronger than before, if she got cut her skin would eventually heal with an even tougher layer, no scar tissue either, so bonus. These anomalies proved to be the only thing that had saved her life. After the loss of her family she was forced to grow up on the streets, she had to fight to survive and she fought tooth and nail. Whenever she faced a stronger opponent her adaptation would kick in causing her to grow in strength by considerable amounts. It wasn't guaranteed to win her the fight but it definitely helped.

She quickly grew into her planet's greatest fighter and despite the general public seeing her as a genetic freak she decided to devote her life to protecting those that hated and feared her. Whether they accepted her or not she would protect them with her dying breath. That was how King Cold came across her.

Almost a year prior he had come to Secura to annex it into his Empire, she was the only one who stood between her world and the Frost King. The fight was quick, she pressed hard pushing the King back with a flurry of punches and a barrage of Ki blasts but nothing seemed to affect him, after taking a moment to gauge her strength he chuckled, a sound she would grow to despise from the King.

"Well well I'm impressed I wasn't expecting such a fine young warrior from your race, you're quite powerful, not nearly as strong as I but still most impressive." And with one mighty swing of his tail King Cold smashed Aayla to the ground below.

Getting back to her feet was difficult, it felt like every bone in her body had been shattered on impact. Aayla had to take a moment to gather her bearings and locate her foe, all she had to do was look up. There he was floating a few hundred meters in the air with an enormous ball of orange Ki held at the tip of his index finger and a malicious smile on his face.

"I have a proposition for you my dear" Aayla didn't like where this was headed, but she knew she was overpowered by King Cold, so she used what little strength she had left to float up to the King, it wasn't like she had anything to lose from listening to him.

"What do you want" the demand came out as a pained gasp as blood leaked from her mouth and nose.

"A simple trade I will leave your planet alone, I will not annex it, I will not destroy it, in fact it will be placed under the Planet Trade Organization's indirect protection." King Cold had to raise his voice to be heard over the roar of the fiery Supernova hanging above his head "that sounds quite appealing wouldn't you agree?"

"But what do you want in return you're not doing this out of the goodness of your heart." She could feel her unique biology slowly knitting her damaged tissue back together and resetting her bones slightly stronger than before. That didn't matter though she knew she stood no chance at this point.

"Why my dear I just want you" the way the King said that made the Securan warrior's skin crawl. The king continued from there "it's not every day I come across a being stronger than the entire Ginyu Force and I would be missing out on a grand opportunity to recruit you to my Empire."

"If I agree then you won't harm this planet?" she was still in pain but she could bare it.

"As long as you serve me I will not allow anything to happen to your world." There it was, as long as you serve me, a life of indentured servitude in exchange for the lives of billions. It might have been a no brainer, but that didn't mean she would have to enjoy it.

"Fine" and from that point forward she worked for the Frost King the first few months she spent as an enforcer getting better acquainted with the Empire. That was the case until the day she was given her new assignment as Frieza's personal bodyguard. Even though her title was bodyguard she felt more like a spy, no spy wasn't the right word, she was a rat funneling any information about the King's son back to him.

Thinking back on those memories and her current predicament always brought her down, she knew she wouldn't change a thing though. Despite her previous claim that she wouldn't enjoy herself she had to admit that Frieza's company was starting to grow on her, his dry wit she found especially amusing. Their sparring sessions were what she looked forward to most in her day to day activities. That was when she got to see the true Frieza, one who was not weighed down with the monotony of running the Empire. He was driven by his desire to get back at the Saiyan that had beat him on Namek, but it wasn't just that he seemed to enjoy the action, the thrill of the fight.

After every bout they would talk alongside Nadan and Tukkan, sharing stories and generally conversing in a way that wasn't just a Lord and his subordinates. It took her quite some time to realise but they were her friends, the first she ever had. They were an odd group to say the least, an outcast slave who gave her life to save those that shunned her, a neurotic genius with a history of starting fights with people he shouldn't, a womanizing chef who always had his back and an evil space prince who wasn't so bad once you got to know him.

As she entered the spaceport she spotted Frieza, Nadan and Tukkan all deep in conversation with one another. She couldn't help smiling, they were her friends, her family and if this was slavery maybe it wasn't so bad.

* * *

"I apologize my Lord but I insist we wait for Aayla she is partially responsible for the designs after all." Nadan usually would have obeyed a direct command from Frieza but this was special and he felt Aayla should be with them when it was revealed.

"Hey don't worry Nad here she comes now" Tukkan ruffled the Malakan's hair as he pointed across the landing zone to the azure beauty making her away across the platform. "Good morning darling, might I add you look particularly ravishing today" Tukkan added a flirty wink causing Aayla to roll her eyes. He would never succeed with her, and he knew it, but that didn't mean he had to give up right?

"So what's with the team meeting Nadan?" She asked as Tukkan turned to check out two Frost Demon pilots walking by.

"Yes I've been wondering the same thing, we've been waiting here for ten minutes now so out with it." Frieza lightly smacked the ground with his tail giving away his impatience.

"Yes well my Lord, remember when I fully put you back together" Frieza could tell Nadan was never going to let that go. "You requested that I obtain for you a new ship and you listed what you desired out of it?" The scientist was shaking, but not out of fear he was excited practically hoping up and down.

"Yes if I recall I requested a sleek frame, high grade weapons and armour, decently sized but still being able to be crewed by as few people as possible…. Oh and an environmental training room." It was only four things and Frieza had been hoping that it would be a simple matter, but it seemed to have taken Nadan months to acquire one.

"Precisely, well after extensive searching I discovered….. nothing, there is not one ship out there that currently matches your prerequisites my Lord." The Malakan was still bouncing up and down.

"So that's why you called this meeting? To say that after six months you couldn't get a ship?" Frieza was completely bewildered by Nadan's behaviour, perhaps failing so many times over the course of six months had finally caused the lizard man to snap.

"No my Lord it took me six months to tell you that I went ahead and built your dream ship myself." Nadan was positively beaming with pride as a ship materialized right in front of them startling everyone in the vicinity, sans Nadan of course.

"What? When? How?" Frieza was awestruck it was a ship! Slightly larger than his old saucer yet far sleeker with an angular body almost like the head of an arrow. The ship itself was black but along the edges it was coloured a dark green with twin yellow lines from the nose of the ship all the way to the back.

Frieza immediately took to the air to begin inspecting the ship itself. The metal of the ship was completely smooth to the touch yet he could tell the ship was incredibly sturdy and well built. As Frieza circled the ship he took in more and more of its details. It had two massive engines in the back of the ship that stretched across almost the entire rear. Along both wings was an array of weapons that the Frost Demon could only assume were powerful. It truly was a magnificent craft.

"All your requests were made a part of the overall design my Lord" Nadan had been planning this reveal for so long and their reactions were just what he had hoped for. "I decided upon Powered Anti-Matter Cannons, I based it off of the Dromon weapon systems with a few minor tweaks to energy consumption. They pack enough punch to blast through a small moon." The Malakan was smiling smugly at his handy work if they were impressed with that then they wouldn't believe what else he had done.

"The shielding systems I designed myself from scratch, using a refractive energy cycler it can withstand even your Death Beams my Lord." The pride and joy in his voice were so prevalent that the rest of the group couldn't help but smile as well. "And as a bit of added safety I managed to design a cloaking system in case we need to be a little stealthy. Also the hull itself is shielded from being scanned so heat signatures and power levels are completely undetectable."

"Hey Nad I really hope you didn't forget the kitchen" Tukkan had a huge grin seeing what his best friend had managed to make for them.

"Of course this ships not just functional it's also been outfitted for comfort, here let's take the tour!" The group followed closely behind the joyous Malakan as the access hatch opened and they flew inside.

Nadan was right this ship was impressive, spacious enough so it didn't feel claustrophobic yet not so open that it felt empty. The kitchen was packed with everything an experienced cook like Tukkan could possibly need. The sleeping quarters had enough room for ten and were nothing short of luxurious, which was the perfect in Frieza's mind. The cool blue hue of the inside was soothing to walk in and wasn't as ugly as the beige colouring that adorned most ships in the PTO.

At last they arrived at their final destination, a single armored door with a rectangular window imbedded inside. "And this is the Environmental Training Room, you can change the rooms settings on that center console, affecting temperature, drones, turrets, terrain and most importantly for you my Lord, the gravity." He looked at the Frost Demon expectantly hoping he was pleased with his craftsmanship.

They entered the room to get a look around, Frieza was particularly happy with its size. "It's quite impressive Nadan I just have two questions how high can the gravity go and can you be sure that I won't damage the rest of the ship while sparring?" The room was very impressive however he didn't want to risk the rest of the ship because of his energy output.

"No worries there Lord Frieza I've designed the walls out of Katchin so even you would have trouble breaking it my Lord. As for Ki blasts the walls are lined with energy absorbers they funnel any energy into the ships power supply." Nadan could already see that Frieza was enjoying the room already "the gravity controls can be increased to five hundred times the galactic standard as of right now, but I can adjust it to go further later on if you wish."

Running his hand over the controls Frieza' couldn't help smile, he felt like a child who just got the birthday present he always wanted and it was everything he hoped it to be. "It's perfect, the whole ship, what did you name her?"

Nadan chuckled at the thought," Lord Frieza this is your ship and you are our captain the honour of naming it falls to you, I think we're all in agreement." The nods from both Tukkan and Aayla confirmed this.

"Very well then the ship will be named…" Frieza had to pause to think, he had only waited a few moments before the perfect name came to mind.

"The Nemesis"

The next hour was spent with the new crew of The Nemesis getting better acquainted with their new vessel. Nadan was inspecting the engines one last time, Tukkan was going through the kitchen with a smile from ear to ear, but Frieza was sitting atop of the craft. Aayla couldn't help but notice how solemn Frieza had become after their tour of the ship so she decided to see what was wrong and flew up to meet the brooding tyrant.

"So what's eating you Frieza, I thought you would have been more excited to show off the ship to your brother." Aayla landed in a sitting position as well beside the Frost Demon trying to determine what was bothering him.

"Oh I'm sure Cooler will be unbearably jealous" Frieza chuckled softly before his eyes glazed over once again.

"So what's up I'm not used to you brooding this much" Aayla cocked her eyebrow in worry, what could be affecting the Frost Prince so much?

Frieza sighed to himself, it was best to address this now otherwise it would continue to eat away at him. Turning his head over to the azure warrior his face darkened and the words he spoke caused Aayla's heart to sink in dread.

"How was your talk with my father?"

* * *

 **AN:** **Hey everyone sorry about the long wait for the chapter had to go back change a few things but here it is and i couldn`t be happier. Just want to say you guys have been great i`ve been really enjoying listening to your feedback.**

 **So not much to really need to explain this time around, i wanted to give Pui-Pui a bit of a backstory so i have him as one of Friezas subordinates until he eventually joins with Babidi we won`t bee seeing him until we hit the Buu Saga. As for Frieza`s hatred of charts and mundane paperwork i was actually channeling a bit of myself in that one.**

 **Some people have asked about whether Seluba is an actual threat in a fight or if he`s all talk and planning so just to clear things up i have him** **gauged around Frieza`s first form, so no match for about half the cast but still can be dangerous in his own ways since Shuyo will be acting as the muscle. which reminds me so Shuyo is of Pykkon`s race that does not mean he is as powerful as Pykkon, after all Pykkon was a legendary warrior who has been training in Other World for who knows how long, so despite being of the same race i have Shuyo significantly weaker than Pykkon.**

 **im already starting on chapter 4, chapter 5 will be the arrival of Trunks and i personally like the title Regicide for that chapter :)**

 **As always hope you guys enjoyed the chapter if you got questions i`m always willing to answer them**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed your Easter Weekend**


	4. Chapter 4 - The People's Champ

"Well?" Frieza was now standing before Aayla with crossed arms and a dark but otherwise unreadable expression. Even though he was fairly short, barely reaching five feet Frieza still held a foreboding presence that chilled the Securan warrior to the core. She couldn't speak, part of her knew this day was coming but even after so many months she still didn't know what to say, even with the Frost Demon looking down upon her.

In the blink of an eye Frieza's tail coiled around Aayla's neck cutting off her airflow. "EXPLAIN DAMMIT!" Roared the tyrant losing all patience he had been tentatively holding on to. With his tail still wrapped around Aayla's neck Frieza raised a single finger pointing between the azure warrior's eyes. "WHY, WHY WOULD YOU GO BEHIND MY BACK?" The tip of Frieza's finger began to glow with a pinprick of purple light as he prepared a Death Beam.

She couldn't answer, it wasn't because she was being choked, it was that she had no way of explaining how she could betray their trust in her. Her only friends in the entire universe and she betrayed them, not just Frieza but both Nadan and Tukkan. She had provided information on all three of them to King Cold. She knew she couldn't say anything to justify her actions, she knew she wouldn't say anything. In all honesty she should have been dead back when she fought King Cold, she had been living on borrowed time, perhaps this was for the best.

The vein on Frieza's forehead began to bulge outward from the anger coursing through his body. Why wasn't she saying anything, why was she just sitting there with her eyes closed, why wasn't she fighting back? The infuriated conqueror was ready to fire the Death Beam and be done with the traitorous warrior before him when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder.

"Come on Frieza, let her go" Tukkan was staring down the Frost Demon with a solemn expression that rarely graced the carefree chef. "She must have her reasons, let's give her a chance before we start blasting ok?"

Frieza begrudgingly loosened the grip on his tail allowing Aayla to fall into the arms of Nadan who had also joined the group on top of the Nemesis. "My Lord why don't you go blow off some steam elsewhere, Aayla's hurt I have to make sure there's no lasting damage." The Malakan prodigy gave a nod indicating he wasn't being disrespectful he was just trying to stop what he knew Frieza would later regret.

After a moment's hesitation Frieza gave a frustrated growl before taking off, leaving the hangar at an unbelievable speed. Nadan gave a sigh of relief as he lowered Aayla back to the ground "we really should get you in the ship, didn't think I'd have to use the medical bay before its maiden voyage."

"No I'm fine he wasn't holding me that tightly" despite her claim Aayla still coughed up a wad of phlegm as she tried to take in oxygen once again. She held her head down in silence she didn't know where to begin, Nadan and Tukkan were going to want an explanation they were going to hate her for what she had done. A hand cupped her chin and lifted it up so her eyes met the warm eyes of the Konatsian chef.

"Let's head onto the ship I'll break in the new kitchen and whip up some comfort food for us" the chef gave a comforting smile to the distraught girl in front of him. Nodding slowly she took to the air along with the other two heading back towards the entry hatch, a lead weight sitting in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Out in the howling winds of the Fuar tundra stood Frieza, Ki surging around his ivory form. He had become a purple beacon amongst a storm strong enough to tear the flesh from the very bones of lesser mortals.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

A colossal burst of energy was released from Frieza growing into a mile long dome of destruction leaving nothing but charred ash and a crater. He had so much pent up rage, he needed to let it out, luckily there wasn't a single living thing for miles out in Fuar's wilderness. Raising his finger he prepared to unleash a Death Beam at a mountain range in the distance.

 _"You know that's the fifth time I've stopped one of your attacks because you insist on shouting it first."_

 _"Oh come on Frieza that's half the fun."_

"GRRRR BARRAGE DEATH BEAM!" Frieza yelled as he swept his hand along the mountain range firing a seemingly endless onslaught of Death Beams as he did so. Each impact elicited an immense explosion that shook the ground for miles around. When Frieza had finally lowered his hand the entire range had been reduced to nothing more than a few blackened foothills.

What a fool he had been, he should have known that anyone ordered by his father would be working against him. He already knew his father couldn't be trusted but now Aayla to? Frieza barely had a handful of friends in the entire universe, why did one of them have to be a traitor?

 _"Now darling I'm sure there's a good reason, no one ever does anything without a reason."_

His mother's voice rang through his thoughts causing him to lose his footing. He whipped his head back and forth to find the source, but his eyes just fell only upon devastation. "M-Mother?" He was cautious, thinking at best he had imagined it and at worst he was losing his mind.

 _"No one does anything without a reason, now you march your tail back over there and find out the whole truth."_

What was this? Was the deceased Queen Skadi speaking to her youngest son from beyond the grave? The thought uplifted the tyrant's spirit until he realised what was happening in his head. It was just a memory, he had few that remained of his beloved mother so whenever one reappeared it always took the Frost Prince off guard. This particular one was from a fight he had with Cooler, it wasn't until talking to his brother did Frieza realise he had been in the wrong. Humility wasn't one of Frieza's strongest attributes but his mother still did her best to instill such aspects into her sons.

 _"Now you march your tail back over there and find out the whole truth."_

Gritting his teeth at the thought Frieza straightened looking back towards the capital city. "Very well mother we'll do things your way, for now" and with that Frieza burst forth from the crater a streak of purple energy left in his wake. His mother was right about one thing it was time for answers.

* * *

Back in the dining area of The Nemesis Nadan, Tukkan and Aayla sat around in abject silence waiting for one of the others to speak up first. As luck would have it the lighthearted chef was the first to speak up "alright someone better grab a bite of this stuff, I put a lot of work into these dishes."

Aayla looked down to the food, it did look good. The Konatsian chef had prepared a plate full of various cooked meats along with a large bowl full of green, bread like loafs. Over to the side was another bowl full of assorted steaming vegetables glistening with a sauce the chef claimed was a secret family recipe. She was about to take a bite out of a loaf when a sudden shaking rattled the entire ship causing Aayla to drop the load back down to her plate.

"That would be Lord Frieza, I guess he took my advice about blowing off some steam" the Malakan scientist was busy taking a sip of water while staring at a data pad, no doubt observing the Frost Demon from the safety of the ship. Another rumble violently shook the ship causing Nadan to splash his own drink in his face. Sputtering and wiping his face clean Nadan could only stare back as Tukkan erupted in laughter. "Not funny" Nadan looked down to check his data pad for any updates "looks like Lord Frieza just flattened the Jotun Mountain Range, great I'm going to have to update that data now."

"How can you two be so calm?" It was the first thing Aayla had said since she boarded the ship and she was staring at her companions as if they had lost their minds. "Why are you being so kind to me, offering me food and wanting to treat my injuries, don't you realise I betrayed all of you?"

"Nah darling you were just following orders, and from what Nad told me you really didn't have a choice in the matter." Tukkan flipped a green loaf into his mouth with his thumb "hmm not bad."

"Lord Frieza was worried about your unusual behaviour after your match today so he asked me to take a look into it" Nadan was still reading through the data pad as he spoke. "It didn't take long for me to find your messages to King Cold, I have the manuscripts of those messages right here actually." As Nadan said this he waved the data pad over his head.

"Anything bad in there Nad?" As the Malakan prodigy shook his head Tukkan broke into his usual flashy smile. "See darling nothing bad means you have nothing to worry about, now grab a bite to eat before Frieza gets here and we can discuss this like reasonable civilised folk."

"But how, how can I explain this to Frieza without him losing it?" For the first time they could actually detect a hint of panic in her voice.

"Well judging from what I've read so far, the truth should be adequate" Nadan was still reading off of the data pad flicking through screen after screen of evidence. "He may not like it, he will undoubtedly yell and lose his cool but Lord Frieza does, on occasion, listen to reason." Setting the data pad down for the first time Nadan looked up and past Aayla "isn't that right my lord?" Aayla's head whipped around so fast Tukkan could have sworn he heard bones crack.

There standing in the entryway to the dining room was the Frost Prince himself, face no longer clouded by rage but with grim determination. Nadan had only been able to give him minute details before but now he was determined to know everything. Walking forward all eyes were on the tyrant as he seated himself down beside the others. Nadan slid over the data pad for his inspection but Frieza waved it away.

"No" his voice came out as a croak, shouting out in the middle of that blizzard had almost stripped his vocal cords. Looking Aayla in the eyes with an unflinching gaze Fireza rasped "I want her to say it, like she should have from the beginning."

At first Aayla couldn't find her words, the piercing gaze of the Frost Demon was one of the most intimidating things she had ever experienced. But she knew that she could lose everything if she stayed quiet, she couldn't lose the only friends she ever had. And so summoning every bit of courage she could she began her tale from the very beginning, telling her friends, her family everything. Her powers, the way she was labeled a freak, her decision to fight for her people, her encounter with King Cold, the deal, meeting the three of them, the sparring matches, the regular discussions with the King. After speaking for what felt like hours she finally broke eye contact with Frieza, her head dipped down in silence.

She had just laid everything on the table and now she was waiting for the uproar, Frieza was silent the entire time never once saying a word, he must be about to explode. As she braced herself for the coming barrage, she felt the last thing she could have imagined, a comforting hand being placed on her right shoulder. But it couldn't be Tukkan he was on her left, slowly raising her head she once again made eye contact with the Frost Demon.

By no means was he smiling but Aayla could tell he was doing his best to appear reassuring. "Thank you for telling us that" Frieza rose from his seat with fists clenched, "it seems I have quite a bit to discuss with my dear father."

"Wait you can't!" Aayla rushed her hand out to grab the Frost Demon's. "I'm supposed to be completely undercover you were never supposed to find out, if I fail that he'll destroy my planet."

Frieza stood still for a moment studying Aayla intently, "why would you give up your life, accept this slavery, in exchange for a planet full of people who think you're just some sort of abomination?" Frieza couldn't understand it they had done nothing but look down on Aayla her whole life yet she still gave up everything for them.

 _"I will always help those in need, even those that don't deserve it."_

She was like him, like that damn monkey, selflessly putting the lives of others before her own regardless of the consequences. He had thought Goku was a fool for thinking like that, was Aayla one as well? No, Aayla was no fool, she simply valued the lives of others above her own. It was a foreign concept for Frieza to say the least but he it was part of who Aayla was so he would have to accept it.

"Very well" Frieza conceded after several long seconds of internal debating. If it meant so much to her he would not confront his father, yet.

"Thank you!" Aayla cried out as she wrapped her arms around Frieza's neck pulling him into a hug with her massive strength. The tyrant had been taken aback by the sudden action, he was Lord Frieza ruler of the universe, hugs were not something he was used to.

"Humph don't mention it, now you'll want to continue your reports to my father as per usual, no need for him to get suspicious." Frieza had gotten word of his father's recent spree of planetary annihilation, the last thing he wanted was to give the mad king another reason to blow up Secura.

She let go of Frieza with a shocked expression on her face, "you want me to keep going behind your backs?" She couldn't believe it, Frieza had such major trust issues, mainly stemming from being raised by his monster of a father. Yet here he was now giving his blessing to report his doings to King Cold.

"Yes Nadan showed me a bit of what you've been informing him of, nothing too serious so far" Frieza had to pause for a moment to gather his thoughts. "Besides if you stop reporting to him then father will look for a different way to weasel out my information." Frieza gave a small smirk as he locked eyes with Aayla, piercing red staring into stunning blue. "At least you I can trust."

For the first time since leaving the Arena earlier that day a vibrant smile blessed the face of the Securan warrior.

* * *

There was a spring in the step of Seluba as he traversed the corridors of Freedom's Hammer. His mandibles were clicking in rhythm to an old song from his childhood, one that usually brought with it painful memories of the past. Not today however, no today that song brought forth thoughts of victory and long awaited vengeance.

Today was a big day thought the Crodan leader as he entered the control center, he tapped away at the command console bringing up messages and field reports that had arrived since he last checked. He quickly waved away the casualties list, the requests for aid and other such information as he searched for his true target, the only one that mattered.

There it was the encrypted communication line, the one only he could access, the one that gave the order for their preliminary attack. In all honesty Shuyo's little outburst of righteous heroism worked more in Seluba's favour than he could have possibly imagined. Months ago the plan was set but it was risky at best with a lot of room for failure. The plan rested solely on Shuyo being able to take on all three Frost Monarchs simultaneously, or in rapid succession. This was ridiculous and looking back Seluba couldn't believe he actually thought such a tactic would work.

But with a little patience they now had everything they needed. King Cold had continued his insane planet murdering frenzy throughout the galaxy, which was perfect! So many planets were terrified that they would be next on the mad king's hit list that they started sending their best troops to back the GFM they now had a team of over twenty-five incredibly powerful individuals, creating a squad dubbed The Cold Busters. Shuyo was still their ace, he was more powerful than all of them but now he wasn't alone out there. They had almost doubled the size of the fleet as well and would easily overwhelm the defences of Fuar with sheer numbers.

Everything was set just right, Seluba started to laugh, something he hadn't done in a very long time, his revenge was so close and it would all begin with a single sent message. Running through the steps always brought a strange calm on the rebel leader. Part of him knew that what he was doing was wrong, part of him thought he was no better than Frieza himself. None of that mattered though that Demon stole everything from him and now he would pay the price.

Closing his eyes Seluba ran through the plan for what felt like the thousandth time.

Step 1: Sleeper agents on Fuar would make their move and sabotage the shield generators of the major cities of the frost planet leaving it vulnerable to bombardment and the planet's own ecosystem.

Step 2: Send in bomber squadrons and attack fighters to quickly hit the disabled cities causing chaos and distress amongst the populace. These attacks would also weaken the infrastructure of the buildings allowing the storms of the planet to really work their magic.

Step 3: Sleeper agents would move forward with their own attacks using the bombing runs to flush out civilians from hiding, the higher the body count the better, more dead meant a greater likelihood to bring the monarchy back home. Luckily the agents chosen for the surface operations were handpicked, they were perfect for the operation. Thugs, murderers, anarchists and others who had no qualms about getting their hands a little dirty.

Step 4: Once the preliminary attack had ended and drawn in Cooler and King Cold the true attack would commence. Once they had arrived Shuyo, himself, The Cold Busters and the full GFM fleet would launch the real attack to destroy the monarchy, at last freeing the galaxy from centuries of tyranny.

Four simple steps and he would finally have his revenge the thought was intoxicating, victory was so close he could almost grasp it.

 _"I will not allow such an underhanded tactic Seluba if you want my assistance then you will cancel this operation or else"_

Seluba had put thought into Shuyo's demand, obviously the operation was one hundred percent necessary, but so was the mystery warrior. The solution was simple, just make sure Shuyo never found about it in the first place. Chuckling to himself Seluba couldn't believe how easy it had been to keep the warrior in the dark, and now he was off on some random planet ready for his coming battle with Cooler, one which wouldn't be happening as the Frost Prince was last seen on the opposite end of the galaxy.

With only the slightest hesitation Seluba punched in the passcodes to access the required communication line. With trembling fingers he slowly typed in the message that would begin Operation No Mercy.

Let the show begin

* * *

Frieza was having a good day all things considered, he had gotten plenty of rest the night before a delicious breakfast curtesy of Tukkan who had once again outdid himself. To top things off he was now making his way to Ymir Arena for their daily sparring match Aayla and Tukkan following closely behind. It had been months since the Securan Warrior's secret had been revealed, and although the first week was filled with quite a bit of tension they both seemed to have moved past it. The four of them were back as a team the only difference being his father's continued attempts to pry into his business.

Shaking his head the Frost Demon tried to put such negative thoughts behind him, after all he was having a good day.

"So Frieza what do you want to work on today?" Aayla asked from behind him.

Frieza had to take a moment to consider, part of him wanted to focus on hand to hand but they had been focusing on that the entire week so far. Frieza had to chuckle to himself at how much the crowds that gathered to watch their matches affected them. Frieza's main focus was improving his own skills, as well as Aayla's but he couldn't lie he enjoyed entertaining the crowds that formed at the Arena to watch them.

"How about we give them a show today all Ki blasts, extra points for the more creative techniques" Frieza couldn't help smirk the kids would love that one. Sticking to his promise Frieza introduced Aayla to the kids. In fact Weiss, Tyr and Raijin were most likely the reason that Aayla was no longer in her depressed funk she'd been in. The idea of people looking up to her was so foreign to the shunned warrior that when Frieza produced the three balls of energy to her she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

The three had grown on Frieza as well they were beacons of admiration that had no inkling of the horrors the Frost Demon had perpetuated. They would regularly join the group after matches and converse with them, for a bunch of children they weren't bad company. At first Frieza questioned why and how they spent so much time watching the sparring sessions they almost never missed one. His suspicions initially turned to his father but after asking Nadan to check into them the true revelation was far more disheartening.

They were orphans the three of them losing their own parents at a very young age. According to the reports Nadan had gathered they had stuck together for most of their lives living at the same orphanage. They were an inseparable trio with little joy in their day to day lives, but they seemed to have found some in the form of Frieza and Aayla. The thought of being a positive presence in the lives of children was not something Frieza ever expected to be.

Flying along towards the arena Frieza didn't notice as the wind began to pick up not until it started affecting his flight. Coming to a halt Frieza gazed around as he realised the winds were picking up to hurricane levels.

"Uh Frieza what's going on?" Tukkan was spinning around trying to keep himself steady as the winds only increased in strength.

Gazing up to the sky Frieza could already see that the shields meant to protect the city from the harsh storms of Fuar were down, but how, that should have been impossible!

"What do you mean the shields are down planet wide?" Aayla was speaking into a communicator with an agitated twitch in her eye. "Well can you get the shields back up these winds are getting stupid!" After a brief pause Aayla whipped her head back to Frieza shouting to make sure she could be heard over the roaring winds "Nadan says it's sabotage!"

The words had barely registered before the sounds of muffled explosions sounded off in the distance, the trio could only barely make out the shapes of bombers making passes on the city. Immediately switching into a commanding stance, Frieza began delegating to his two companions.

"Tukkan get back to The Nemesis, cover Nadan while he tries to get the shields back up. Once that's done take the Nemesis out for a spin and see how well the weapon systems work on it." The Konatsian chef nodded quickly before heading back to the palace in a burst of pale blue Ki.

He then turned his head over to Aayla, she was floating there like a statue only her head-tail flapping in the torrential winds. "Do you have a spare communicator" Aayla nodded quickly before passing off the spare she always carried in case of an emergency. Frieza quickly strapped the device to his wrist he knew he would need to keep in communication with everyone if they were going to stop this. "Now I want you to intercept any of those bombers that think they can get away with attacking us."

As he spoke a Ki blast flew past the two of them from the ground below, what Frieza saw made his blood boil. Soldiers all baring the armour of the GFM were blasting their way through crowds of people firing upon buildings, hurling energy waves with reckless abandon. They weren't targeting anything specific they were simply attacking and killing any who got within their line of site. Turning back to Aayla with fire in his eyes that were only matched by the burning hatred in her own they nodded in unspoken agreement. Aayla took to the skies to deal with an incoming bombing run while Frieza dropped down to street level he would make them pay,they would all pay.

Frieza WAS having a good day.

Nadan was frantically working on the shields he needed to go faster though he could hear the muffled explosions in the distance and the sounds of battle as PTO forces did their best to protect the civilians outside. Gazing at a monitor only stressed Nadan out to no end, the PTO soldiers had their work cut out for them not only were these assailants stronger than most of them but the PTO soldiers were bogged down with having to watch their fire lest they hit civilians caught in the crossfire. The GFM attackers clearly had no such issues as a particularly brutish purple being leveled an entire street with a colossal blast from his mouth.

The door to Nadan's lab slid open as Tukkan entered, the sudden movement still made the Malakan scientist jump out of his skin from the fright. "Would it kill you to knock first, my nerves are shot as it is right now."

"Sorry Nad it's a madhouse out there, tell me you got those shields back up?" The usual carefree chef had a worried expression on his face, he had seen a lot of dead on the way here and knew the toll would only increase as the battle went on.

"I almost have them back online whoever infected the system did a number on it, I'll have to do a complete overhaul to make sure this doesn't happen again." Another rumbling shook the entire ship, they were still docked in the palace hangar, which brought a worried look to Nadan's face. "Where are Lord Frieza and Aayla?"

"Last I checked Aayla was knocking those ships out of the air like they were target practice, as for Frieza, well there he is now." Tukkan pointed to the monitor which drew the attention of Nadan. He was right, there was Lord Frieza he had the purple brute from earlier by the throat and quickly broke his neck, the Frost Demon's face was a mask of anger and hatred. Coughing to himself Tukkan continued, "Frieza said once you're done getting the shields back up we should take the Nemesis' weapons for a test run.

Looking back to the monitor and the carnage left behind from the attack Nadan nodded his head. "They won't get away with this."

Frieza hadn't felt this mad since Namek, as he flew through above the streets looking for his next target. It didn't take long there seemed to be hundreds of these fools in this city alone. Frieza quickly dropped from the sky landing on top of one ugly fish like attacker flattening him into the ground with the landing alone. His partner, some kind of reptile, barely had time to raise a fist before Frieza vaporized him with an invisible blast from his eyes. He knew he should try taking some prisoners for questioning later but at this point Frieza was running on anger and determination, so the chances of survivors were laughable at best.

The crowd that the duo had been about to assault had taken a few moments to register what had just happened in front of them. Once realisation sunk in they rushed forward surrounding Frieza who immediately tensed at the sudden movement, but they weren't attacking. They were cheering, giving their thanks and praising their saviour, their Prince. The shock of such a reaction from his subjects, his people was immense. Gathering his senses Frieza quickly scanned the crowd "Not here damn" the Frost Demon mumbled under his breath. Turning his attention back to the crowd he pointed a finger back in the direction he came from "it's safe that way I've cleared out all these vermin, take shelter until the shields are back up." And with that declaration Frieza took off once again amidst the praise and thanks the group was sending his way.

It took all of one minute to find another group of enemies on the ground this time though they had successfully wiped out the group they were terrorizing. Anger surged as he came into view of dead, they were his people how dare these worthless cretins lay so much as a finger on them! Dropping from the sky between the assailants and the dead Frieza stared them down before realisation dawned on their faces, this group was smarter than the last it seemed as they attempted to flee. Raising a single finger time seemed to slow for the tyrant as he fired his Death Beams in rapid succession. Each beam found their mark and every one of the filth that was hit dropped back to the ground dead.

Slowly turning to face the pile of dead Frieza tentatively scanned the bodies "not here either" this time though Frieza was relieved, where the hell were the kids? A small red ball of Ki hurtled through the air towards the Frost Demon who effortlessly caught the attack before super charging it and throwing it back to its sender with quadruple the force. Taking off once again to continue his hunt he spotted the area where his attacker had been, Frieza could only smirk to himself as there was nothing left of that fool but a scorch mark.

That's how Frieza's day went from that point further, Nadan had managed to get the shields back up and most of the GFM air forces had been wiped out by Aayla and the troops who had joined her in sky. The Nemesis carved a swath of destruction on its maiden voyage Nadan made sure to give the weapon systems an adequate field test. All that was left now was to deal with the numerous degenerate thugs still spread out across the planet. Frieza had all but given up hope of finding Weiss, Raijin and Tyr, it had been all day and he couldn't find them anywhere, the orphanage they lived at had been completely obliterated. It had taken nearly ten minutes to sift through the debris searching for the trio but they weren't there.

After that point there was no mercy, there was no playful moves or drawing things out. No if Frieza saw an enemy he put them on a one way trip to hell, most never saw the Death Beam coming. Passing over a destroyed section of city Frieza wished he had taken the time to find someone who could sense energy so they could teach him, he was going off sight and sound alone to try and find three needles in a deadly haystack.

An enormous emerald explosion erupted from a building blasting a group of GFM soldiers out of the hole. Frieza quickly put Death Beams into each of them before they could get up just to make sure the job was done. As Frieza stepped inside the hole to inspect who was inside the Frost Demon was greeted with a ball of emerald energy. He quickly caught ball before it made impact and through the ball over his shoulder setting off another explosion.

The light illuminated the darkened building shining a light on the three figures standing there ground. Relief flooded Frieza as he caught a glimpse of their faces, bloodied, bruised, tired but most certainly alive. As he approached Frieza ignited a ball of his own Ki to brighten the area so they could see him properly.

As his own light fell on them Frieza could see the extent of the damage they had taken. Weiss stood in front of the other two in a protective stance, blood running from a cut on her left eye and bruises running along her face. She was now in her fully unsealed form her emerald bio-gem on her forehead catching the light from Frieza's ball of Ki. Her skin was a soft pink with the typical ivory armour of the Frost Demons that adorned her upper torso, forearms, hips and shins.

Behind her stood Tyr his black scales had grown larger and were now spread all across his body his right hand held a ball of black fire while he supported the unconscious Raijin with the other. Both boys looked haggard with scorch marks, cuts and bruises all over their bodies.

Upon realising who was standing before them they visibly relaxed, Tyr lowered his Dark Fire Bomb and Weiss' hands dropped to her side as tears began to fall down her face. "You made it" it was all she could say before the feisty Demoness collapsed from exhaustion.

Frieza immediately began shouting in his communicator "Nadan I've found them bring the ship over at once to my location!" Frieza didn't waste any time waiting for a response he knew Nadan would pull through, he always did. He quickly made his way to the injured trio, gathering Weiss in his arms to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"We tried our best sir" the dejected voice of Tyr snapped Frieza out of his thoughts, the usually cocky boy was fighting back tears trying his best to appear strong in front of his hero. "When those guys started attacking, we got together and tried to stop them." He took a shuddering breath before continuing "we saw you and Aayla flying after a bunch of them and thought we had to give you a hand but you were moving so fast we couldn't keep up."

The thought that he had passed the kids brought a surge of guilt to the Frost Demon as he stared at their injured forms. If he had just gone out and found someone to teach him how to sense Ki he would have found the kids immediately and they wouldn't have gotten hurt.

"We got in over our heads there were so many of them and they just kept attacking people" tears were now flowing from the young Dramon. "We couldn't save them and then they turned on us, this big guy came out of nowhere and knocked out Rai and then Weiss, Weiss she…" his explanation was cut off by a bought of sniffling as he tried to compose himself. "She transformed to try and protect us and she did great but, but…" again he trailed off into silence as he looked on to his unconscious leader.

"She wasn't used to her unsealed form and it burnt though her energy quickly." Frieza was all too familiar with the unsealed form and how it could wear down an unprepared body.

"Yea but she kept going, then she got blasted a bunch, everything got really blurry and now we're here." Tyr trailed off he didn't know how to continue, they had failed so many people.

Supporting Weiss' lower half with his tail Frieza reached out his now free hand to place it reassuringly on Tyr's shoulder, the child was distraught and thought himself a failure. "You did your best, you all did, you're alive which matters most, you were even able to protect Raijin for hours, you did great."

Tyr lifted his scaled face which began to retract into his flesh as a smile finally broke over the distressed child's face. "Thanks Frieza, oh sorry Lord Frieza" Tyr blushed about forgetting the honorific.

Patting his shoulder one last time Frieza gazed down at Tyr before responding "just call me Frieza, now come I hear the ship."

Just as Frieza said it The Nemesis broke through the clouds landing amongst the rubble of the destroyed courtyard. The hatch quickly opened and Nadan burst out with two stretchers, he was in full doctor mode and nothing in this universe would stop him. "Quickly My Lord get those two on the stretchers now."

Frieza carefully laid Weiss down on the nearest hover stretcher while Tyr placed the injured Raijin down on the other. Just as Nadan and the stretchers re-entered The Nemesis another ship roared through the cloud cover, it was GFM attack fighter and it had already let loose a barrage of laser fire on their position! Without thinking Frieza wrapped his tail around Tyr pulling him into a protective hold, the volley of laser fire impacted The Nemesis' shields and Frieza's back both of which shrugged off the damage like it was nothing.

As the ship turned mid-air preparing to make a second pass a rage fueled voice rang out in the desolate landscape "THOSE ARE CHILDREN YOU BASTARD! GAMMA IMPACT!" Aayla burst through the clouds her body engulfed in her crimson Ki. She sped right towards the attack fighter, which tried desperately to dodge before the enraged Securan smashed through it with a thunderous impact.

She quickly changed directions bee lining straight for The Nemesis. Aayla hit the ground running and quickly scooped a surprised Tyr into a hug that would have broken the ribs of lesser beings. "I'm so glad you're all safe, I was so worried" Tyr could only wiggle his legs under Aayla's intense grip.

"Come now Aayla put the boy down, I think he's taken enough damage for one day" Frieza chuckled as Aayla realised just how much pressure she had been applying and quickly let go.

"Sorry Tyr hurry let's get you on the ship I'm sure Tukkan's got some food ready for you guys." She returned from the ship a minute later her expression calm and thoughtful. "So how did they do out there on their own?" She had her arms crossed and held her head slightly to the side appearing calm and collected. However Frieza noted the twitch her head-tail gave and realised she was a bag of nerves, she really cared for those kids.

"They did fine they survived this mess after all, but they are going to need someone to train them in case this ever happens again." Turning his head slightly to the Securan warrior he raised an eyebrow slightly with a mischievous grin, "interested?"

After the children were safe aboard The Nemesis Frieza once again went out to hunt the remnants of the GFM assault, borrowing a scouter from a soldier who probably didn't need it anyway. The Frost Prince was able to quickly ascertain the locations of the remaining threats and disposed of them before they could harm the citizens of Fuar more than they already had. And everywhere Frieza went the people cheered him on from their shelters and from on the streets below. Once it seemed all of the GFM's forces had been wiped out Frieza went ahead and assisted with the search and rescue operations, Ymir Arena had been completely wiped out in the bombings and so Frieza needed a work out somehow. Using his own natural strength as well as unparalleled telekinetic abilities Frieza was able to shift entire buildings with ease to get at those trapped.

Frieza was use to people trembling in fear, shrieking in horror, begging for mercy when they laid eyes upon him. But every time he shifted rubble to reveal a survivor he was greeted with cries of joy, blessings and praise, the tyrant hadn't received nearly as many hugs over his entire life as he had in the past twenty four hours. He felt good about it, word was getting around about his actions. Aayla watched slyly as the 'Terror of the Universe' was bombarded with hugs from an elderly Brench woman who was convinced he was angel sent down by the Kais themselves. He may not have realised it at the time but he was taking the first steps towards heroism whether he liked it or not.

* * *

It had been a week since the GFM's attack, which after careful analysis seemed to serve no other point than wanton death and destruction. Not exactly the most noble of tactics from an organization that claimed to be looking to liberate the galaxy. Things were just beginning to get back to normal, King Cold made his declaration that the GFM would be stamped out, the funeral ceremonies had been performed and the injured were being healed. There was just one last matter to attend to, a meeting needed to be held to discuss the GFM and the best way to proceed with their extermination. This conference meant every single lord and high ranking officer needed to be present.

The conference itself was still a week away but the very thought of it filled Frieza with anxiety. Not only was it another tedious meeting, but it was one that he could not skip out on. To make matters worse both his father and brother were to be present for the meeting. Frieza had kept his promise to Aayla and so had not spoken directly to the Frost King since his retrieval from Namek.

As for his brother well, he sent Cooler a happy birthday message, three years ago. The two had never seen eye to eye, not since the loss of their mother who always acted as a mediator between the two hotheaded rascals. But once his father took over their upbringing it seemed he pitted the brothers against one another. Frieza had come to the conclusion that he would attempt to mend their relationship when Cooler arrived, he wasn't going to enjoy it but it was time to get his brother back.

With Ymir Arena destroyed in the attacks the crew of The Nemesis, which had now swelled to seven, made active use of its training facilities. Weiss and Raijin made full recoveries and Tyr was back to his old self-assured attitude. Frieza had made it his mission to get Weiss comfortable at controlling her unsealed form, she had a surprising amount of power for one so young and so would need proper guidance. Tyr had jumped into the kitchen with Tukkan almost immediately. And Raijin who already showed an interest in science joined with Nadan acting as the Malakan's lab assistant.

They were like a really strange dysfunctional family thought Aayla at the dining table aboard The Nemesis. She watched as the group before her tentatively sampled Tyr's first solo dish with mixed results. Frieza, Raijin and Weiss nearly chocked on the pastries he had prepared while Tukkan gave him a pat on the back and said they were a good start.

Their meal was disturbed though when Nadan rushed into the room, looking downright panic stricken. "My Lord the King is requesting your presence on the bridge we have a live feed to his ship, he's requesting you as well Aayla."

Slowly rising from his seat with a grim expression he began to leave the room after nodding to Aayla, they both had a bad feeling about this.

"Frieza can we come and meet your father as well?" Weiss had asked as she accidently crushed another glass of water, she still had to work on her grip.

"No it's best if you stay here with Tukkan" he gave the Konatsian a subtle nod of confirmation, which he promptly returned.

"What could he want with both of us?" Aayla asked not really expecting an answer as they made their way to the bridge.

"Nothing good" it was all Frieza said and they both knew he was right.

They entered the bridge at a brisk pace hopefully they could get this over with quickly. "Alright father what do you wan…." Frieza trailed off as he looked at who was staring back from the viewscreen. It was his father alright, in his unsealed form! A bead of sweat trickled down the Frost Princes scalp as he took in his father's form. He was almost a head and a half taller than Frieza, his dark teal Bio-Gems shown with dull intensity, he was muscled beyond belief and he was adorned in his royal armour with a long flowing red cape.

"What I want son is to let you know that I am tired of waiting for you to deal with the Super Saiyan, so I shall kill the chimp, since you seem too frightened to do so yourself." The smirk on the Frost Kings face coupled with the condescending attitude was more than enough to set Frieza off.

"Don't you dare father! That monkey is mine and no one else's!" The telltale vein was popping out from Frieza's head showing off just how infuriated the Frost Prince was.

"Then you should have done so months ago son, but if I have to clean up yet another mess of yours so be it." King Cold paused for a moment for effect, letting his words sink in. "Now I will be arriving on Earth tomorrow once the monkey and his friends are dead, I will return for the conference where we will have a heart to heart."

Frieza was speechless he knew there was no way he could catch up to his father even pushing The Nemesis to its maximum speeds he wouldn't reach Earth for four days. He was stuck and there wasn't a damn thing he could do. Frieza glanced out of the corner of his eye to see how Aayla was reacting, Frieza knew she wasn't thrilled by his thirst for revenge. The Frost Prince could tell something wasn't right with Aayla her eyes were transfixed on the screen, but not on King Cold.

"Ms. Talon you've been so quiet this whole time don't you have anything to add?" King Cold chuckled as his gaze fell upon the Securan warrior whose body was rigid out of fear. "Not going to answer me? Oh well it's not like I shall be requiring your services any longer" the king now wore a devilish smile as he took in the outright panic on Aayla's face. King Cold was walking now through his ship humming to himself as he did so "it's nothing personal really I just have no use for a spy whose identity has been compromised."

Frieza was now staring at Aayla, she was frozen but the Frost Prince had no idea why, then as King Cold entered his ship's airlock it dawned on him. "Father don't do it, she did everything you asked of her" Frieza hadn't felt this angry in months.

"While that is true son I am still a man of my word, and I said quite clearly that As long as Ms. Talon serves me I will not allow anything to happen to her world." He was now outside his ship looking down upon the planet Secura with a malevolent grin. "Now then Ms. Talon since you are no longer in my service I can do whatever I feel like to this world." Raising his finger a massive Supernova appeared at the tip a roaring torrent of fiery energy. "Any last words my dear?"

"Please don't" her voice was barely a whisper as she stretched an arm out to the screen.

"Sorry my dear but you'll have to do better than that" and with a flick of his finger King Cold sent the Supernova hurtling down towards the planet. The ball of destruction struck the planet with a resounding crash and began to quickly sink into the planet itself. At first Aayla held a sliver of hope that Secura might be able to survive the attack, until the cracks started to form. They spread from the site of impact, glowing fissures that made their way across the surface of the doomed planet. In mere moments Secura could no longer hold itself together and exploded in a fiery haze.

"Hmm not the greatest explosion I've seen but definitely pretty I would have to give that a respectable 7/10 how about you?" King Cold merely stared back at the viewscreen with the same bemused smirk he always carried.

Frieza was furious his father would pay for what he did to Aayla and for robbing him of his chance to destroy the super monkey. He had interfered in Frieza's affairs for the last time, but before he could voice his opinions he was interrupted by the rage and grief stricken yell from beside him.

"YOU BASTARD I WILL MURDER YOU!" Aayla's crimson Ki erupted from her forming a torrent around one of the last Securans in the universe. She was crying but her tears were evaporating almost immediately by the intense power she was giving off. She wasn't in control of herself and Frieza could tell if she kept this up she would destroy the ship, quickly appearing behind her Frieza connected with a single swift chop to the back of Aayla's neck. She was not prepared for the sudden blow and was unconscious almost immediately her power dissipating for the time being.

Frieza managed to catch Aayla with his tail before she hit the ground, gently turning her over and resting her in his arms. "How touching" King Cold was still there chuckling at the display he had just witnessed "I guess we will have to have a little talk about that as well when I return." His smirk only spread as Frieza's own aura flared in anger "Tata son I'm off to go kill a Super Saiyan." With that the screen cut out leaving Frieza alone with the unconscious Aayla, looking down at the knocked out warrior Frieza felt what he thought at first to be pity. "No this is different he thought to himself, pity is something I usually reserve as for the weak, this is just… different."

Carrying Aayla off the bridge Frieza was immediately greeted by Nadan who he filled in on the details as they made their way to the med bay. "Just make sure she's ok Nadan, she's not going to be happy when she wakes up."

"Yes My Lord I will take immaculate care of her" he bowed to Frieza as the tyrant left the room.

Frieza was quickly making his way to the nearest exit he needed to get out get some fresh air and blow off some steam. Frieza could only imagine some mountain range off in the tundra trembling at his approach. "This day has gone straight to hell, how can this get any worse?" His question was answered almost immediately as he exited the ship and was greeted by an all too familiar figure.

"Why hello brother long time no see."

* * *

 **Authors Notes:** **Hello everyone another chapter down and I got to say I had a lot of fun writing it despite it being the darkest so far, but hey Cooler's here so silver lining right?**

 **So now a lot of people have been wondering about King Cold and the upcoming battle in Chapter 5, so just gonna do a quick bit of explaining firstly yes he is stupid powerful stronger than both Cooler and Frieza in his unsealed form. Secondly he is not invincible and I have some valid reasons why he's going to lose this fight this. Thirdly he is not going to make it easy on the Z-Fighters this is gonna turn into an all-out brawl and everyone's invited.**

 **So another thing next chapter I'm primarily going to focus on the Z-Fighters on Earth however we are going to have some stuff happening back on Fuar, like everyone's favourite Frost Princes 'catching up' on old times.**

 **Just like always if you've got questions I got answers we're now at over 1000 views and I am ecstatic that my story is reaching so many of you.**

 **As always hope you guys enjoyed the chapter**


	5. Chapter 5 - Regicide

Frieza plummeted out of the sky, smashing through a plateau on the way down, and digging a deep trench into the frozen ground with his body. "Someone's been working out it seems" Frieza chuckled as he got back to his feet.

"Well I was the only one of us with some form of work ethic little brother" Cooler smirks down from above knowing full well how the 'little' comments still get under Frieza's skin. "After all if you want something in this universe" the taller Frost Demon charges down in a burst of purple Ki "you have to take it for yourself." He slams his leg down on Frieza's shoulder to emphasize his point.

Smiling Frieza quickly wrapped his tail around Cooler's other leg and swiftly slams him back and forth into the ground. "If you're going to take anything from me" Frieza levels Cooler's upside-down face with his own "then you're going to have to work a lot harder than that." With a mammoth punch Frieza sends Cooler sailing across the frozen landscape smashing into a glacier sending cracks out along its surface.

Crossing his arms Frieza couldn't help but chuckle, he had missed these little scraps he and his brother would get into. It brought back fond memories to a time when they were just two rambunctious overpowered rascals who would get scolded by their mother for getting up to no good. His thoughts were interrupted as Cooler appeared in front of Frieza in the blink of an eye planting his foot full force into the unsuspecting prince. The impact doubled Frieza over in pain, to which the elder Frost Prince followed with an elbow to the back of Frieza's head. But Cooler still wasn't done, he grabbed Frieza's tail and slammed him down on the ground behind him before hurling the younger tyrant into the air and releasing a burst of purple Ki that enveloped the Frost Demon.

Frieza barely had a moment to close his guard before the energy wave hit, once the smoked cleared Frieza was left stunned with small scorch marks along his arms, legs and tail. "What are you playing at Cooler?!" Frieza shouted down to his brother only to find him missing.

"That's just it little brother I'm not playing" again Frieza barely had a moment to react to the voice behind him before two feet impacted his back sending him plummeting to the frozen ground below.

"I am not in the mood for this nonsense brother!" Frieza shouted as he began powering up. 50% should be good enough to knock some sense into him, Frieza thought to himself. With a burst of speed Frieza took off, aiming a kick for Cooler's abdomen, one that he quickly avoided.

"You'll have to do better than that litt- Argh!" Frieza still managed to land a hit with his tail to the side of Cooler's head as he passed by staggering him in the process. Cooler was quick to recover however and charged forward with his arm cocked back. Frieza spun around just in time to throw his own punch towards his brother. Both fists colliding in the air sending out a pressure wave that flattened what little vegetation there was in the area.

The two Frost Princes weren't holding back anymore both pushing themselves farther and farther, Frieza hadn't fought this hard since Namek. It wasn't long before Frieza realised he was smiling, he was loving this, the rush of excitement was overwhelming.

The smile was not lost on Cooler, after breaking apart from another heated exchange, the angered Frost Prince called out "so I see you still treat everything like a damn game." With an angered grunt Cooler emitted a powerful Death Flash towards his brother who responded with his own Death Cannon. The purple and orange energy waves hit mid-air with a colossal explosion which seemed to reverberate across the tundra.

As the smoke began to clear Frieza called out to his brother across the battlefield "what do you mean I treat everything like a game?"

Cooler burst through the cloud of dust, purple Ki blazing as he put all his might into a punch. Once again Frieza managed to close his guard in time to block most of the force but the impact still sent Frieza gliding backwards. "I mean that you never take anything seriously brother" Cooler was glaring daggers at Frieza now. "If you had put in even the slightest effort, like you're doing now with me, then the death toll from the GFM attacks wouldn't have been in the tens of thousands." Cooler spun around attempting to smack Frieza with his tail.

Frieza quickly blocked the impact with his forearm "Oh really and where were you Mr. High and Mighty while our home was under attack?" Frieza quickly sent out a front kick that connected with Cooler's exposed chin sending the elder brother tumbling backwards. "Oh that's right you were off in nowhere space as fathers little attack dog." Frieza took advantage of his brother's temporary stunned state to land a powerful kick to his abdomen causing Cooler to hack up a wad of sputum. "Yes father I'll go destroy this rebel outpost that isn't even worth our time" Frieza mocked as he front flipped to connect his heel with the back of Cooler's head, sending the elder prince plummeting down to the surface. "What's that father travel halfway across the galaxy to blow up a medical station on some moon that has no strategic value, of course would you like me to lick your feet while I'm at it?"

Cooler usually prided himself on being the most level headed of his family, most of the time, this was not one of those times. "You little brat!" With an angered yell Cooler erupted from the surface taking the fight back to his insolent brother.

Unbeknownst to the two Frost Princes their scuffle had attracted quite a crowd, Weiss, Tyr and Raijin were looking up at the warring tyrants in awe. This was so cool way better than Frieza's normal sparring matches with Aayla! The trio were soon joined by another as Salza, Dore and Niez touched down to watch their leader in action.

"Humph looks like Lord Cooler's really giving Frieza a run for his money" Salza chuckled along with the rest of the Armoured Squadron. "Yes just a little more and zis match is over."

"And what do you mean by that?" Weiss had overheard the Squadrons discussion and was not pleased, holding her ground with hands planted firmly on her hips.

"Well isn't obvious little girly hehehe" Dore laughed at the petit girl who was trying her best to emulate the authority Frieza was capable of producing.

"It means Cooler's gonna wipe the floor with his brother" Niez continued with an annoyingly high pitched voice.

While Tyr and Raijin were distracted by the fight going on in front of them Weiss was now focused on the three mercenaries in front of her. "Fat chance Frieza's way stronger than Cooler, I guess you dolts are just too slow to realise that." She smirked at the irritated looks the Squadron flashed back at her, Niez and Dore turned back to watch the sibling brawl losing interest in the young Frost Demoness. Salza on the other hand was not about to let this go.

"You listen here, Cooler is zee greatest warrior in zee entire universe, no one, not even zat hack brother of his can hope to stand up to him." Salza was pointing down at Weiss with utter contempt.

Weiss quickly floated up to meet the Brench face to face "Frieza is going to wreck your sad excuse for a boss." Weiss pointed right back at the squad captain to emphasize her point. Both were now nose to nose gritting their teeth neither budging on their positions. Another explosive energy wave collision snapped their attention back to the fight. "Come on Frieza beat that clown!" Weiss shouted hoping her encouragement would reach the young prince.

"Grrrr….. Lord Cooler show him no mercy!" Salza shouted hoping to one up the Frost Demoness.

Unfortunately neither voiced reached the Frost Demons they were both busy with their own argument. "Sorry if I actually had to work hard to gain father's attention" Cooler fired off a Death Laser only for it to be intercepted by Frieza's own Death Beam. "We can't all be father's favourite little princess" they were both exchanging Death Beams and Lasers never able to connect but littering the landscape below with explosions.

"Oh yes and I do love father's constant attention he's such an enjoyable fellow to be around." Frieza charged forward head-butting Cooler sending a spurt of blood from the elder brothers nose. "And who are you to talk, you were always mother's favourite, so polite and respectful" Frieza through an overhand right that was easily caught by Cooler. The angrier Frieza got the more he tended to telegraph his attacks something Cooler intended to capitalize on.

"What are you talking about mother had no favourites and you know it" Cooler punctuated his last sentence with a powerful jab drawing a stream of blood from his younger brother. "She treated us equally" another powerful punch managed to sneak its way past Frieza's guard drawing another spurt of blood. "She wanted what was best for both of us" a kick was partially blocked by Frieza's own leg. "Unlike father who always focused on you because you were more powerful" another kick this time connecting with Frieza's neck sending him spiraling out of the air.

Frieza was quick to recover and took back to the air gaining the high ground on his brother "do you think I enjoy being constantly hounded by him?" Frieza flared his aura in anger becoming a shining purple beacon in the sky. "All he's done is tried to subvert everything mother ever taught us and make us in his own image."

"And that didn't stop you from being his little clone now did it?" Cooler responded holding his finger in the air a Death Ball formed at the tip of his finger. "Still able to channel Ki faster than you I see" Cooler laughed as he threw the ball at his brother.

Frieza was done and effortlessly swatted the purple sphere away with the back of his hand sending it up into the air where it detonated. The blast distracted Cooler long enough for Frieza to form his own Death Ball. "You call that pale copy a Death Ball? Let me show you how it's done brother." Frieza spat out the last word in anger before he threw his signature move at Cooler.

Cooler saw the attack coming at the last moment and with a burst of speed managed to evade the attack. That was when Frieza noticed the audience that had formed Weiss, Raijin and Tyr were down there, and the Death Ball was now heading right for them! Gritting his teeth Frieza pushed himself to move as fast as he could to catch up to his attack which already had a head start.

Raijin had mere moments to react and quickly erected a barrier around his friends and Cooler's Armoured Squadron, he knew he couldn't stop the attack but maybe he could slow it down, maybe weaken it. Time seemed to slow as he looked into the coming energy bomb, just to see Frieza appear in its path shielding them with his own body. Frieza may have been fast enough to catch up to the blast but he didn't have enough time to properly defend himself and so took the full force of the attack. The Death Ball had enough force to shatter a moon and in this case it sent Frieza's body soaring across the landscape and embedded him into a plateau. The rest of the energy was blocked by Raijin's barrier but it still took a heavy toll on the young Tu'Valan who almost passed out from the strain.

Cooler watched the whole ordeal play out in utter shock. Did Frieza, his spoiled, arrogant, selfish little brother actually just do that? He threw himself in front of his own attack to protect those kids down there. Quickly taking off to find his brother, Cooler found he already had pulled himself free of the plateau, bruised, bloody and a little singed. "Alright who are you and what have you done with my real brother?" Cooler crossed his arms only half joking, part of him actually thought he was speaking to an imposter.

Frieza had to spit out a glob of spit and blood before answering "very funny now then are we going to finish this or what? Frieza braced himself moving into his fighting stance.

"No" Cooler was smiling now but it wasn't a cocky smirk it was one of warmth, one that he had not used in many years.

"What do you mean no?" Frieza was cautious ready for any underhanded trick, even though that wasn't his brother's style at all. The sudden change in tone left the young tyrant on edge ready for anything.

"I thought I was fighting my arrogant, selfish brother who only looks after himself, clearly I was mistaken" Cooler stuck out his hand to which Frieza tentatively shook, he was still on edge the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. "Come let's talk this out like civilised people before we accidently blow up the planet." And so the two brothers took off back towards the palace leaving their audience behind in a state of confusion.

"So I don't know what's going on did Frieza win or what?" Tyr was playing with his tail trying to figure out what the brothers had said to each other before flying off.

"Well it's obvious that Lord Cooler was zee victor, just as I said" Salza had his arms crossed triumphantly and was smirking down at Weiss who was fuming at the cocky Brench.

"That was a draw at best!" Weiss stomped her foot down creating a small crater where her foot landed.

"Come on their heading back to the palace we should go after them" Raijin laid a calming hand on Weiss' shoulder before taking off after the Princes.

The other five spectators were quick to follow and even quicker to start the debate back up over who was the proper victor.

"Where is he Nadan?" Aayla had just woken up from being knocked unconscious. She didn't need to raise her voice to show off how much anger was raging through her body. Nadan could tell just by looking at the minor twitch in her eye and the slight wag in her head tail that the azure warrior was just barely keeping her cool.

"W-What do you mean Aayla?" Nadan squeaked, causing a vein to pop out over her left eye looking eerily similar to Lord Frieza. The Malakan scientist might have found it funny if it wasn't absolutely terrifying. "Ok Lord Frieza went out to get some air, then he met Lord Cooler outside they talked for a bit and then Lord Cooler kicked Lord Frieza out of the hangar." He was speaking as quickly as he could to avoid her getting any angrier, clearly playing dumb wasn't going to work.

Lowering herself to his height and getting face to face with him she stared down the fidgeting scientist. "Where is he now?"

"Right behind you" both Aayla and Nadan turned around they hadn't even heard Frieza walk in. He was in a sorry shape his body was bruised all over, there were scorch marks running along his arms and legs, smudges of dirt blemished his otherwise flawless ivory skin and he was bleeding from several wounds all over his body.

"What the hell happened to you?" Aayla was temporarily distracted from her anger by the injured form of the Frost Demon.

"That would be me" Cooler was right behind Frieza with a small smirk on his face as he inspected the interior of The Nemesis.

"Pfff please you drew a little blood that's it the only one person capable of dealing this much damage to me is myself." Frieza chuckled but the memory of his Death Saucer cutting him in two made him realise just how true that statement was.

Remembering her anger towards Frieza Aayla quickly powered up "make that two people, that was a dirty move attacking me from behind, you better have a damn good reason."

"To protect the ship, Nadan put a lot of work into it and I won't allow you to destroy it." Frieza's answer wasn't a witty retort, it wasn't a scathing comment it was just a calm, to the point response. It was the last thing Aayla was expecting and took a lot of the fire out of her she knew he was probably right but still to knock her out from behind, it didn't leave her very happy.

Cooler quickly stepped between the two "Aayla was it? I'm here to have a long overdue heart to heart with my brother." Cooler paused for a moment to make sure she was following him, "if you would like, you could join us seems you have somethings to get off your chest as well."

Aayla stiffened, truth be told she wasn't too thrilled with the idea of being anywhere near Frieza's family but she begrudgingly accepted. We might as well get this out of the way now she thought to herself.

They talked for what felt like hours until the sun finally started to fall, each of the three expressing their own feelings towards one another. Aayla quickly realised how little love the two seemed to have for their father, what they had was more of a tense respect for him because he was the one who brought them into the universe. The apparent distance did help settle the Securan on not only Frieza but his brother as well.

As night fell the two brothers walked out of The Nemesis in far better spirits than that morning, they were by no means best friends. But Frieza felt confident that he was on his way to getting his brother back. "So you'll come by tomorrow then?" Frieza asked cautiously not sure what to expect.

"Yes I think it would be best for us both to see what happens with father, are you sure your scientist can obtain a feed from father's ship?" Cooler was wearing a thoughtful expression he had been informed of their father's recent rampage through the cosmos. The utter waste of life left a bad taste in the elder Frost Demon's mouth, there was no honour to be found in this senseless slaughter.

"Nadan will pull through, he always does" Frieza assured and with a slight nod they both parted ways. Frieza was halfway back to the ship before he heard Cooler call out to him.

"Hey brother!" Frieza turned to look at him, Cooler was pointing over to The Nemesis with a small smile on his face. "I want one" which elicited a small chuckle from the younger Frost Demon.

"I knew he'd be jealous."

* * *

Vegeta couldn't believe what he was feeling that power heading towards the planet was immense. "It's not Frieza but it feels pretty damn close" why he felt the need to explain this to a weakling like Yamcha and the woman was beyond him. "There's only one person it could be, it must be his father."

"Frieza has a dad?" Yamcha's voice was a mix of panic and dread he could feel the incoming strength just like Vegeta and it was utterly terrifying.

"Of course he has a father you moron, what did you think he just magically appeared one day to wreak havoc across the universe." This Earthling's stupidity was absurd and Vegeta could not deal with it right now.

"Hey Vegeta would you like a little more barbeque sauce on your spare ribs?" Bulma called out taking Vegeta off guard for a moment.

"Sure why not" Vegeta conceded. I might as well enjoy myself this might be my last meal after all Vegeta thought to himself. He was incredibly powerful, but against what was coming what chance did the Saiyan Prince truly have?

* * *

King Cold observed the small blue marble that was the Earth as his ship made it's approach. The urge to simply obliterate the planet here and now was tempting, however there was no guarantee that the Super Saiyan was on the planet itself. Their radar had just picked up an incoming craft that was about an hour away. "If that is the Saiyan then that should give me time to slaughter his friends and family before his arrival, perhaps have a glass of wine in between."

"My Lord our scanners are not picking up any significant power levels on the surface itself" one of his minions reported with a salute. He quickly went back to his station after making eye contact with the Frost King.

"I guess Frieza was right these Earthlings can hide their energy signatures, I guess we will just have to flush them out of hiding then." He chuckled at the thought it had been so long since he participated in a good old fashion manhunt. "Captain how much longer until we land?" The King had to remind himself he couldn't stick around this mud ball forever he had to get back to Fuar.

"We will be touching down on the planet in approximately twenty minutes My Lord" he responded quickly. His entire crew were on edge, as they should be, in this form he still had a little trouble controlling his power output. The first few days they had lost seven underlings due to sudden releases of energy. But now he had a proper outlet for his unfathomable power.

* * *

A calm wind blew across the desolate landscape as Earth's defenders prepared for King Cold's arrival. They all felt what was coming and they all knew they had to be ready for it because without them the Earth was doomed.

"Alright all of you listen up!" Vegeta called out to the group before him gathering all their attention. "Under normal circumstances I'd say play it safe, keep our power levels low and wait for the most opportune moment to attack." They all gave a short nod acknowledging they were following him, all except Piccolo who was staring into the distance. "However this is King Cold on that ship it's a miracle he hasn't already blasted this planet from orbit."

"Would he really do that Vegeta?" Gohan asked a slight hint of nervousness in his voice. Out of all of them he was the third strongest just behind the Namek and himself. Vegeta clearly remembered the surge of power he got when he got mad. They would need that rage for the coming battle.

"He would kid, he would slaughter every single one of us and everyone on this planet with the flick of his finger given the chance." The look of despair crossed the young half breed's face, earning Vegeta a stern glare from Piccolo. Turning his attention back to the group "Now if we're going to survive this mess we all need to be fighting at our best, we will take the fight to him the moment that ship touches down, every moment we leave him on this planet is another moment he has to blow it up."

Just as he finished Cold's ship appeared through the clouds, the saucer began to make its landing close by and as it did Vegeta took to the air signalling the rest of the warriors present to do the same. Piccolo, Gohan, Tien, Krillin and Yamcha followed suit leaving behind Bulma and Puar behind mostly for their own safety. It was going to be six on one but deep down Vegeta knew it wouldn't be enough.

* * *

"Lord Frieza! Your father just touched down on Earth come in here quick!" Nadan called out from the conference room on The Nemesis. Frieza quickly made his way into the room followed by Cooler, Aayla and Tukkan. The kids were out 'playing' with Salza and the boys, Frieza felt it was best for them not to see what was about to transpire on Earth.

"Well Nadan were you able to tap into his ships surveillance systems?" Frieza asked, without any video they would essentially just be listening to Nadan give a play by play of the power levels being thrown around. This obviously would have been a waste of all of their time.

"Even better my Lord, I have access to one of the ship's probes, we should be getting a live feed in 3… 2… 1." Just as he hit one the view screen lit up to reveal a deserted wasteland, with King Colds ship nestled in between two plateaus.

"Is that really where the monkey lives?" Frieza was perplexed by the desert landscape.

"Scans say Earth has a variable climate many different types of biomes, this just so happens to be one of the more deserted ones it seems." Nadan was now in full control over the probe taking in the surroundings. He turned the camera back just in time to see a massive Ki blast impact King Colds ship blowing it to pieces. The camera had managed to spot where the blast had come from and only one thing came to Frieza's mind as he saw it.

Why was Vegeta wearing a pink shirt?

* * *

"Alright that takes care of his ship and his weakling soldiers now we attack together, use everything you got and stay moving." Vegeta realised he would need to lead this group, none of them seemed to have any true leadership experience. "Baldy always be ready with a one of your Destructo Disks, you see an opening you take it." Krillin nodded nervously in agreement "Namek you and I will have to take the brunt of his attacks and get his attention early." Piccolo simply grunted as he discarded his cape and turban to the ground below. Vegeta turned back to face both Yamcha and Tien "you two stay at a distance, if you have any tricky moves that can gives us an edge use them." Yamcha gulped nervously while Tien calmly stared back at Vegeta.

"What do you want me to do Vegeta?" Gohan asked from the Prince's right, a look of steely determination on his face.

"Kid I want you to get mad." Gohan nodded and took a deep breath and put himself in a fighting stance ready for the coming battle.

The smoke finally began to clear and there in the middle of the wreckage stood the Frost King himself King Cold. Looking up he saw the six gathered warriors and chuckled, he always did enjoy a welcoming party. Rising up to meet them he noticed Prince Vegeta first and decided to address him as the rest were of little concern. "Why hello dear prince fancy meeting you here, now were you the one who so rudely destroyed my ship?" He spoke softly however the menacing undertones were unmistakable, he was mad as hell.

"That's right Cold what are you going to d-ARGH!" Vegeta was cut off as the Frost Monarch closed the gap between them in the blink of an eye and backhanded Vegeta down to the ground below. It wasn't full power but Vegeta's head was still ringing from the impact. Vegeta swiftly returned to the air to see Piccolo and Gohan attacking Cold from both sides the other three were picking themselves up off the ground they must have been knocked back as well.

"Masenko-HA!" Both mentor and student fired their signature attacks from either side of the tyrant who blocked both attacks with his outstretched arms. Yamcha was swift to capitalize on the King's distraction closing the distance his aura bright red from his Kaio-Ken x2 he connected a double open palm strike directly to the Frost King's back. Yamcha's Kaio-Ken infused Wolf Fang Fist proved to be enough to shatter the back portion of Cold's armour but the King himself was left unharmed.

"Humph scum" with a quick smack of his tail King Cold sent the scar faced bandit careening to the ground below only to be caught before impact by Tien. King Cold raised his hand to put an end to the two humans but was caught off guard as Vegeta came from underneath. Planting both hands as close as he could to his target Vegeta fired his Double Galick Cannon at point blank range, the force of which pushed King Cold back several yards. Sadly the only noticeable damage was to the emperor's armour which was now completely destroyed.

Just as Cold's attention was once again diverted to the Prince of all Saiyans, Piccolo and Gohan refocused their attacks both with blazing red auras. Piccolo connected with a snap kick to the back of Cold's head while Gohan flew in from the right and connected with a double hammer fist to the ribs. King Cold managed to smack the young half-Saiyan with his tail but Piccolo easily dodged the wild haymaker thrown at him.

Tien closed in from the left unleashing a flurry of punches, pushing himself to Kaio-Ken x4. King Cold was able to block most of them with his forearm before throwing a sloppy kick towards the Triclops who was able to just barely avoid it. With the tyrant off balance Krillin made his move connecting both feet with The Frost Demon's chin sending him skidding upward. King Cold let lose a powerful Kiai to blow back the Earth Defenders, however Vegeta was back on the attack he knew how they might be able to win but the chances were slim at best. Cold through a huge cross that Vegeta was able to just barely avoid by spinning upside down, he planted both fists into the Frost Kings gut. The attack did next to no damage and King Cold was quick to lift his leg and stomp down on the Saiyan Prince until a small ball of golden Ki impacted his leg, giving Vegeta the opening to retreat, dodging a Death Beam on the way out. Yamcha's Spirit Ball was doing nothing even now that he had upped his Kaio-Ken to x3, but it was serving as a useful distraction for the others to gather themselves as it swerved and whipped its way around King Cold.

Vegeta joined beside Piccolo and Gohan who looked like they were preparing for another attack. "We might actually have a chance here" Vegeta chuckled to himself as both warriors looked at him in surprise.

"Vegeta how hard did he hit you we're not doing any damage to him, he barely has a mark on him." Gohan couldn't see what the Prince was getting at but Piccolo did and he returned Vegeta's chuckle.

"He's right Gohan we might be able to win this. Krillin, Tien and Yamcha seem to have picked up on this as well." The stoic Namekeian was using this time to catch his breath and prepare for the next assault.

"What do you mean Piccolo?" Gohan still couldn't see it, they were so completely out of their league in terms of power.

"Look at the way he fights, he has no technique he telegraphs his punches from a mile away, even his Ki blasts they're powerful, but that's it." Realisation began to dawn on the young half Saiyan.

"He's right I doubt Cold's trained a day in his life, he never needed to because he was so powerful. Add on the fact that he can't sense Ki and we may just have a chance." Vegeta had a grim look on his face, all these advantages were great but it didn't matter unless they could actually hurt him. As if to signify this both Krillin and Yamcha connected with a combined Kamehameha that did nothing but obtain King Cold's attention, Yamcha was able to dodge out of the way of another haymaker but Krillin was not so lucky he was force to close guard and boost his own Kaio-Ken to x5 to withstand the blow.

"All I can say is it's a good thing King Kai actually taught us the Kaio-Ken otherwise this fight would be over already." Piccolo grunted as Vegeta took off to cover for Yamcha who had been blasted into a plateau from a grazing shot from the Frost King.

"Yah it's really helped a lot, thanks for teaching it to me and Krillin by the way." Gohan grinned up at his mentor who smiled back and ruffled his hair.

"Come on kid let's get back in there it looks like Tien needs a breather." Both warriors rushed forward Gohan breaking left firing off precision Masenkos to get Cold's attention while Piccolo extended his arms to an astonishing length punching the King from half a football field away.

The battle itself was steadily moving closer back to where Bulma and Puar were hiding out they could see the flares of red aura and the purple blasts being emitted. Bulma had seen enough of her friend's fights over the years to get a feel of how the battle was going and it wasn't looking great. Their attacks were doing nothing to the weird looking alien it looked like six mosquitoes trying to take down a dinosaur. Luckily they seemed to be able to avoid a lot of damage from the hulking brute but how long could they last like that.

"Man they sure do shout a lot" even from way down on the ground she could hear the combatants yelling their heads off as they fought.

"Grrr enough of this garbage AAAAHHHHH!" As King Cold shouted his body was cloaked in an orb of purple Ki. A moment passed as everyone waited to see what was coming next and then the sphere of energy erupted, sending hundreds of smaller blasts in all directions forcing the other fighters to dodge the incoming barrage. Piccolo managed to dodge a series of blasts easily but he wasn't prepared for Cold appearing behind him and slamming a full force punch straight into Piccolo's back cracking several ribs in the process , the Namekian was sent hurtling down to the ground below.

Vegeta had seen the blasts coming they were powerful but easy to dodge, he watched as most fell to the ground causing massive explosions in a wide birth across the wasteland. But one caught his eye in particular it was heading for that foolish Earth woman. Vegeta didn't know why but he felt compelled to act and so he sped downwards hoping to catch up to the ball in time. The Saiyan Prince managed to intercept the blast, closing his guard he was able to block the brunt of the force. It was still enough though to heavily damage Vegeta who plummeted out of the sky in a daze only to be caught just before impact with the ground by a new arrival.

Still stunned from the blast Vegeta managed to get back on his feet in time to see the one who caught him "who the hell are you?"

The lavender haired mystery boy unsheathed the sword on his back before turning to reply "a friend."

Gohan had an easier time dodging the blasts than the rest of the gang, sometimes being a kid has it's advantages. Just as he dodged the last incoming blast he looked up to see Piccolo being smashed to the ground by Cold and Vegeta getting blasted out of the air. Seeing both teammates getting severely injured was enough to set off Gohan's legendary rage.

"KAIO-KEN X5!" The combination of both the high level Kaio-Ken and his uncontrolled rage pushed Gohan's power to new heights for the moment surpassing both Piccolo and Vegeta. Gohan appeared right beside King Cold just as the Frost King was about to put a Death Beam through a winded Krillin. Focusing all his power into one punch Gohan managed to connect staggering the Frost Monarch and drawing a trickle of blood from the tyrant's lips.

"You little monkey brat" King Cold's massive tail snaked its way around Gohan's neck cutting off the airflow. "Any last words child?" King Cold laughed as Gohan let out a gurgled hack. "Well I suppose I've heard worse hahahaAAAAHHHHHHH!" The tyrant's maniacal laughter changed to a scream of pain as half his tail came away from his body releasing Gohan from its grip.

Gohan was expecting Krillin with a well-placed Destructo Disk but instead there stood a total stranger between him and the tyrant. The teenager had lavender hair, a blue jacket and a shining sword dripping with the purple blood of King Cold. This new arrival seemed totally calm as he stared down the Frost King with a determined look that seemed vaguely familiar. "Hey Gohan go join up with the others and take a breather I'll continue from here ok?"

Gohan was in a state of shock, who was this guy who thought he could take on King Cold alone when the six of them had barely scratched him? Then again after seeing Cold's now severed tail Gohan could only nod and say "sure thing and thanks."

As Gohan left to go look for Piccolo, King Cold advanced upon the lavender haired youth. "I am about to put you through unimaginable pain for what you just did boy." Purple Ki began surging through the Frost Demon's arms as he prepared to attack "then once you and all your little friends are dead, I will find and destroy the Super Saiyan as well."

"Well I got good news for you, you don't have to look far for a Super Saiyan." The mystery boy began yelling at the top of his lungs, rocks were being ripped from the ground and a golden light enveloped the sword wielding youth.

Back down on the ground Vegeta stared on with a mix of joy, shock, anger and confusion. The hair, the golden aura, the immense power, Vegeta had seen it all back on Namek when he came face to face with Kakarot as the planet tore itself apart. "How can that boy be a Super Saiyan?"

King Cold's eyes narrowed at the mysterious youth, while he had never seen a Super Saiyan for himself, Frieza's description of them was quite clear. The golden spiked hair, check, the piercing teal eyes, check and the golden aura that enveloped them, definitely check. "So you must be Goku it's so good to finally meet you." The Frost King was chuckling now that he had arrived the King could start taking things seriously.

"Sorry but nope I'm just a bit of a fan of his, don't worry he'll be here shortly, unfortunately you'll be long dead by then." The young sword wielder disappeared in a blink of super speed reappearing as his fist smashed into Cold's nose sending a burst of blood. Cold responded with a quick straight punch to which the sword wielder easily ducked down slashing at his abdomen leaving a deep cut and a spray of blood.

"YOU IMPUDENT LITTLE RAT I WILL END YOU!" King Cold's power burst forth everyone present could feel the energy being released as the Frost Tyrant made his way to 100% power. His muscles bulged outward, electricity arched and tore the ground asunder, foam started to pour from his mouth and his power skyrocketed, it was mind boggling to the spectators below.

Under normal circumstances Trunks would have taken the time to make his move and attack but the wind and electricity being generated by the Mad King was keeping him at bay. Just as the wind began to die down there was a flash in King Cold's eyes and he quickly charged forward slamming a huge fist into the sword wielder's face sending him tumbling down to Earth. He never hit the ground though as Cold was waiting for him halfway down and slammed a massive kick into the boys back sending him hurtling back into sky. Regaining his bearings Trunks readied his sword, he had taken his opponents full strength for granted, he couldn't make such a foolish mistake again.

As the two super beings traded blows above them the rest of Earth's defenders were busy catching their breaths, looking at the titanic confrontation above them. While the use of the Kaio-Ken kept them alive and in the fight they were beginning to feel the side effects now as it wore down their bodies.

"Guys this is unreal who is that kid?" Tien was staring in shock at the battle raging above them, he was glad he left Chiaotzu back at Kame house.

"Whoever he is he's neck and neck with Cold" Piccolo was rubbing his side his ribs were still pretty tender. "Cold has more power but whoever that is has more than enough skill to make up for it." Just as Piccolo said that King Cold landed a massive punch to the gut of the mystery youth, the force of which slammed him through several rock formations on the way down.

"We have to help him!" Gohan was powering up again readying himself for battle once more. They all knew they couldn't do much but they could buy the mystery Saiyan time to recover. With laboured grunts and tired sighs they flew back towards the Frost King.

King Cold was lining up the shot to finish off the Super Saiyan brat, with a grim smile he relished the coming kill. It was just as he thought no being in the universe could stop him.

"SOLAR FLARE!" both Tien and Krillin had appeared directly in front of Cold while his attention was focused on the Saiyan. The blinding flash from the double Solar Flare was incredible it felt like King Cold's eyes were melting in their sockets. With a pained cry King Cold hurled a punched forward attempting to crush the cretins who dared such a maneuver, but to his disappointment he only found air.

"GALICK GUN!... FIRE!" The massive stream of purple Ki from the Saiyan Prince impacted the unsuspecting Cold in the back forcing him down to the Earth, where both Piccolo and Yamcha were waiting.

Pushing their bodies to their limit with a Kaio-Ken x5 they launched their own attacks at the plummeting tyrant.

"MASENKO-HA!" Piccolo roared as the golden beam erupted from his palms.

"KAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAA!" Yamcha's energy waved erupted from his outstretched palms combining mid-air with Piccolo's attack. The collective blast collided with the oncoming form of the blinded King Cold, who still being pushed downwards by Vegeta's Galick Gun. The ensuing explosion could be felt for miles around and flattened the nearby plateaus with the cheer force of the conjoined attacks.

Gohan was busy picking the injured mystery Saiyan out of the crater when the blast went off, thinking quickly he covered the bruised youth from the debris. After the dust settled Gohan was shocked to see the unknown Saiyan on his feet once again. "Thanks for covering for me Gohan, I'll go finish off Cold." The winded youth began making his way over to his sword which was planted firmly in the ground before Gohan raced over to stop him.

"We can buy you some more time you rest up a bit we'll keep pushing King Cold while you get your strength back up." The look of determination brought back fond memories to Trunks of somewhat better times. Slowly nodding he agreed which succeeded in bringing a smile to Gohan's face. Bracing himself Gohan soared back into the air to join his friends, who were still in the midst of battling the deranged monarch.

Gohan fired off a volley of Ki blasts that drew King Cold's attention away from Vegeta who had just attempted an ineffectual punch to the King's jaw. "That's it you die now you little monkey garbage." Preparing a Death Beam Cold had no way of seeing the incoming attack from a certain three eyed warrior.

Tien was floating just above King Cold his crimson aura raging around his body, the veins in his body bulged and his nerves screamed in protest. Kaio-Ken x10 was risky business it would most likely leave him drained for the rest of the fight but Gohan was in the tyrant's sights and they were out of options. Placing both hands together in a pyramid shape Tien braced himself for what he was about to do. "TRI-BEAM HAAAAAAA!" The massive blast of energy managed to knock King Cold out of the sky completely his body was now singed all over and he was shaking from the force of the impact.

"What the hell was tha-aaaahhhhh!" King Cold couldn't finish his sentence before another blast slammed him into the ground. How could one of these lowly humans be capable of so much damage? He had little time as another blast impacted him driving him into the square hole that had formed from the onslaught. Wait square hole? Didn't that worm call it a Tri-Beam? While Cold was busy pondering the geometry of a Ki blast he was pushed down even farther by yet another blast.

He could feel his body beginning to tire it was the unsealed form it was eating away at his reserves unlike his sons he had little experience with the form and now he was paying for it. Keeping his right arm on the ground to keep his balance Cold quickly pointed his left arm up to the Tricloptic warrior. Forming a Death Beam at the tip of his finger, he would end this nonsense right here and now "Die you worm!"

That was when Krillin made his move charging from cover he lined up his shot and it was perfect. "Destructo Disk!" The compact monk quickly threw his signature attack and time seemed to slow as the spinning buzz saw carved its way through King Cold's outstretched arm. The attack made it all the way through and continued to shave a piece of Cold's nose off before he was pushed back into the ground by yet another Tri-Beam.

With a burst of rage fueled speed the now one armed King dashed towards Krillin smashing him into a pillar of rock with a vicious backhand. He spun around hastily and fired a Death Beam at the now exhausted Tien who had no chance of dodging in time. Luckily Yamcha was there and quickly shoulder checked his friend out of the way saving him from the fatal beam. Unluckily Yamcha took the beam instead, it pierced his shoulder erupting in a plume of blood. And with that Yamcha spiralled out of the air, still alive but his part in this battle was over. Krillin was unconscious from the vicious backhand and Tien had burnt out, his body could barely move let alone fight. It was now up to Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo and the Mystery Saiyan.

King Cold gazed down at the stump that was his arm, it had been carved off at the shoulder and blood was pouring out at an alarming rate, quickly cauterizing the wound with Ki he began to rise into the air. "These gnats have dismembered me, how dare they! I should have destroyed this worthless rock from orbit when I had the chance." He could feel his energy draining from him and his fatigue growing, at this rate he might lose. With an insane grin plastered on his face the Frost Tyrant rose into the air and faced down his adversaries. "You have all fought well, I commend you for your bravery" as he said this an enormous ball of fiery Ki formed on his outstretched finger. He was pouring everything into this attack this world would be a smouldering piece of charcoal when he was done with it. "NOW YOU DIE!" and with that he hurled the massive Supernova to the defenders below.

Trunks was the first to react to the incoming threat igniting his golden aura he placed both hands in front of him. He braced himself to the ground as the two balls of Ki in his hand combined to form one large ball of crackling blue energy. He could only hope his Buster Cannon was strong enough it didn't work on the androids but maybe it would against Cold. Putting as much energy as he could he fired his energy wave at the incoming sphere of death.

As the energy wave hit Trunks could feel the pressure of the Supernova bearing down upon him slowly pushing back his own Buster Cannon. He could hear the Frost Tyrant cackling maniacally as his Supernova bared down upon the defenders. His attack was losing ground and soon he was going to be overpowered by the attack, he failed before his mission had even begun.

"GALICK GUN…. FIRE!" for the second time that day the massive wave of purple Ki was unleashed by the proud Saiyan Prince. His blast connected with Trunks' and the young sword wielder could feel the strain of holding back the blast lessen.

"MASENKO-HA!" The golden beam erupted from Trunks' other side as Gohan held his ground alongside his Saiyan brethren. The three beams combined and had the Supernova down to a snails crawl, but it was still moving forward pushing them back.

Having his Father on one side and his mentor on the other fueled Trunks with the drive to push forward, he couldn't fail, he wouldn't fail. Reaching deep within himself Trunks poured on another burst of energy halting King Colds attack in its tracks. They were locked in a stalemate the only question was who would give first?

King Cold realised his Supernova had come to a stop, surely those monkeys could not have stopped his attack? In any case the Frost Demon pushed another burst of power into the roaring sphere of fiery death forcing it back down to the planet's surface.

"I don't think I can keep this up, it's too much!" Gohan felt his strength fading he couldn't keep this up. His muscles were screaming at him to stop, the strain from his Kaio-Ken was starting to take it's toll.

"Don't you dare give up kid, if that attack hits were all history!" Vegeta shouted over the roar of their combined attacks. Sweat was pouring from his head in rivers but he wouldn't give up, he gave up in his fight with Frieza back on Namek, never again.

"Vegeta's right son but don't worry I'm here to" The cheerful voice of Goku rang out as he positioned himself amongst the trio.

"Kakarot?! What, where, how?" Vegeta almost lost control of his Galick Gun at the sudden appearance of his rival. "Where the hell did you come from?" He demanded as he redoubled his efforts to repel the Supernova.

"Long story Vegeta I'll fill you all in once we take care of King Cold." With that Goku's power went straight through the roof as his hair stood up and was bathed in golden light. Taking his position amongst his friends Goku cupped both hands at his side. "KAME!" A ball of brilliant blue Ki formed in his hands, it shown like a small star even while surrounded by the energy beams around him. "HAME!" The ball of light intensified as Cold's Supernova approached steadily. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The Turtle Devastation Wave erupted in a violent flash of light melding with the Buster Cannon, Masenko and Galick Gun, sending King Cold's Supernova straight back to him.

"What's this?!" King Cold couldn't believe it his attack was roaring back at him! The Tyrant barely had enough time to extend his hand to block the incoming attack. The searing ball impacted his extended hand with a flash of blazing light, it pushed him back several meters into the air but he was able to stall the attacks. If I still had my other arm I could force this attack back down the Frost Demon thought, instead they were stuck in a stalemate. Then the idea dawned on him force the ball straight down they were in no position to intercept from their angle. "Got you, you filthy monkey scum."

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" The spiral beam slammed directly into King Cold's back and quickly pierced straight through his chest leaving a gaping hole in the unsuspecting dictator. Piccolo had been charging that attack for what felt like an eternity waiting for the right moment and now was the best one possible.

With a gush of blood King Cold lost all control of the Supernova as it crashed into him hurling him upwards. He was so drained, so damaged he couldn't even resist as the sphere carried him out of the atmosphere. Out of the corner of his eye King Cold could see the approaching star of the solar system. The heat from the star was matched only by the intensity of his own planet killing attack which forced him into the hellfire that was the Earth's sun. "So this is how it ends" those were the last words uttered by the King of the Universe, Leader of the Planet Trade Organization, Ruler of the Frost Demons and there wasn't a soul around to hear it.

* * *

Back on Fuar the five viewers of that battle were silent, the viewscreen was a mess of static as the probe had shorted out just at the end of the battle. But everyone in the room saw what happened and none of them could believe it. Aayla was a mix of both utter rage and uncontrollable joy, on the one hand King Cold was dead and it looked like an incredibly painful way to go. But on the other Aayla was the one that wanted to end the Frost King's miserable life. Deciding what was done was done she simply leaned back and smiled, giving a silent toast to Defenders of Earth. If they were to ever meet she knew she would have to thank each and every one of them personally.

Frieza and Cooler were a different story they both sat there in absolute shock and disbelief over what they just witnessed. Frieza glanced over at his brother who simply nodded they were both thinking the exact same thing. There were now two Super Saiyans to deal with.

* * *

 **Authors Notes:** **Oh man I had a blast writing this chapter, the first full action one at that. I will say it was somewhat daunting writing for so many new characters, I really hope you guys enjoyed it though I did my best to capture each of their personalities.**

 **The Cooler fight wasn't supposed to be as long as it was but as I went the story just kept writing itself and every bit of it just seemed to slide into place. As a side note I found that reading Salza's dialogue in the most stereotypical French accent I could imagine was downright fantastic and really brought a smile to my face.**

 **My main focus of the King Cold fight was to give the Z-fighters a chance to show off their skill more than their power. That was always a big part of the original Dragon Ball, showing that skill could trump outright strength, which I felt Dragon Ball Z strayed away from as it progressed. I will say I absolutely loved giving each fighter their moments in the fight while still trying to seem realistic. Another thing I wanted to focus on was teamwork, one of the things that always bugged me was that they never teamed up nearly enough in the series so having them work as a cohesive unit just felt right to me.**

 **I will address the use of Kaio-Ken right now as well I always felt it was utter bull that King-Kai never showed them how to use it in the show. Granted it's not a Super Saiyan transformation but it still could have kept them relevant. Imagine a Kami fused Piccolo busting out a Kaio-Ken x20 that would have been nuts.**

 **Anyways I think I've rambled enough for one day I really hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and as always if you have questions or just want to discuss the story I'm more than happy to indulge.**

 **Hope you have an awesome day guys I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Dreams

A spotless white void stretched out before Frieza, he was completely alone in this strange realm which seemed to stretch on for eternity. He tried to call out but no sound escaped him, the deafening silence pressed down upon him, never had he felt so utterly alone. Just as it started to feel like he was going to go mad from the silence, a maniacal laughter rang out through the void. Capturing his attention Frieza spun around in search of the sound, there was no one to be seen yet it sounded like it was coming from all around him. That's when Frieza realised, that was him that was his laughter ringing out in the emptiness.

"No Frieza don't do it!" The sound of Goku's plea rang out, just like Frieza's laughter it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.

The short bald human suddenly appeared before him, his face contorted in pain, with both his arms and legs stretched out as far as they would go. "GOKU!" those were the last words the human shouted before Frieza's Psychokinesis Bomb tore apart the short fighter from the inside out. In his place stood Goku himself, except it wasn't, his appearance was different, he looked identical to the kind-hearted Saiyan save for a scar running down his left cheek. He wore green and black Saiyan battle armour and had a determined smile plastered across his face.

"This is for all the people we killed in your name." A bright blue ball of Ki formed in his right hand as he spoke. Frieza remembered now, Bardock that lowly Saiyan the only one save for King Vegeta who challenged him on that fateful day. The day he attempted to exterminate the Saiyan race. "I wish we were never foolish enough to obey you." Bardock threw his attack towards Frieza and as he did so Frieza could hear his own laughter once again ringing out through the void as a look of utter disbelief washed over the Saiyan's face. "No way!" the Saiyan was then engulfed in a fiery light, as his armour broke away from him, a smile passed over the warrior's face. "KAKAROT!" and then he was gone as well, this time replaced with the injured form of the Saiyan Prince Vegeta lying on the ground in pain.

Kill after kill they replayed before him always staying in front of him no matter how hard he tried to look away. This was now Frieza's hell, forced to watch every single murder he had ever committed. Each scene felt like it was over in an instant while at the same time stretching on for an eternity much like this prison he was now trapped in.

Finally the victims stopped appearing, but in their place rested a small green planet in front of him, Frieza recognized it all too well, it was a scaled down version of Namek. Beside it appeared a similarly sized Planet Vegeta, and beside that the Planet Aqualish and then another and another. They were all planets that he had personally destroyed over the years they stretched out before him obscuring his vision with their mass. He could hear his laughter again louder than before to the point that he thought his eardrums would rupture. All at once they exploded like fiery balloons surrounding the Frost Demon in a blazing light, for the first time since his this ordeal began he was able to close his eyes.

Opening his eyes Frieza was once again greeted by the endless expanse, this time though he was fine with it. Watching his own 'highlight reel' had left a strange feeling in the pit of the tyrant's stomach. The sound of a massive Ki blast snapped him away from his thoughts as he looked to his right in shock. There he was, Goku himself in his Super Saiyan form, golden aura enveloping his being as he fired his signature attack upwards. Frieza followed the beam to see who the Saiyan was targeting, there at the tip of the energy wave was his father, King Cold, trying his best to repel the attack.

His father locked his eyes on Frieza and called out to him, despite the roar of Goku's attack Frieza could hear his voice clear as day. "Frieza help me!" just as he was about to take a step forward he heard another energy wave this time from his left. Turning around to see what was happening, his eyes widened in horror at the sight.

The unknown Super Saiyan was in the sky firing down a massive blue beam of his own. Down on what Frieza could only assume was the ground stood his brother Cooler doing his best to hold back his respective assailant. But Cooler wasn't alone just behind him lay the bodies of Nadan, Tukkan, Tyr and Raijin all cut down with sword slashes running across their bodies. Aayla was still alive though knelt on the ground clutching Weiss close to her, the young girl had a massive hole in her chest. A small trickle of blood ran down the Frost Demoness' chin, even in death she still wore that determined look.

"Frieza run get out of here now, you can't beat them!" Aayla's voice rang out just as clearly as his father's. Cooler began losing ground as the beam steadily pushed him backwards, he couldn't hold out much longer.

"Frieza, what are you waiting for HELP ME!" King Cold's voice once again rang out from his right snapping the Frost Demon's attention back around. Goku's energy wave was starting to overcome him it wouldn't be much longer before the King was completely overwhelmed.

"Frieza" the voice of Cooler called out as calm as always, locking his eyes back to his brother Frieza saw the subtle nod of his head. "Leave us, we will be fine." Cooler was at his own limits now and the heat from the energy wave was burning the flesh on Cooler's hands he wouldn't last another minute.

"DAMN IT BOY! I MADE YOU!" Frieza gritted his teeth as he looked back to the Frost King above. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't choose, he didn't know what any of this meant. Amidst the torrent of sound and Frieza's own internal struggle he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, spinning around he was now face to face with his mother.

Queen Skadi stood there as beautiful as the day she died, gazing into her youngest son's eyes with a gentle smile on her face. For the first time since the beginning of this ordeal Frieza was able to speak. "Mother, what do I do?" Queen Skadi began to open her mouth when everything in that strange realm was swathed in a fierce golden light.

* * *

Frieza woke screaming and on fire. Frieza glanced all over the room trying his best to figure out what was going on. He was in his private quarters in the palace, it took him another moment to realise his beds current state. Regaining his composure he took a deep breath, he must have accidently set the bed on fire in his sleep. With a flick of his hand he extinguished the fire with a pressure wave before it could spread. "Guess my next bed will need to be fire proof fantastic." Frieza sat at the end of the bed trying to make sense of the dream, what did it mean?

A knock at the door ripped the Frost Demon from his thoughts "Frieza, you in there?"

"Of course I am Aayla" well that came out far more irritable than he meant, then again he was running on almost no sleep.

The door to his quarters slid open revealing the azure beauty behind them, she wasn't wearing her normal armour just her abnormally form fitting pajamas. "You don't have to be rude about it you know" she glanced at the charred mess that had been his bed. "I heard you from down the hall wanted to make sure you weren't being attacked or anything." She smirked at the seated Frost Demon whose head was bowed staring at his hands.

After a solid minute of silence Frieza finally responded "you heard me?"

"Pfft I'm pretty sure the entire palace heard you" she paused trying to get some kind of reaction from the Prince. Planting herself beside Frieza on the ruined bed she placed her hand on his shoulder "want to talk about it? I can double as your psychologist and bodyguard, but I might ask for a raise if that's the case." There that would surely get a response right?

"Father's dead now, you don't have to stick around anymore" damn! That was not the kind of response she was hoping for, he was in quite the mood.

"Thanks to your dad I don't exactly have anywhere to go, and I was joking about the raise thing, he never actually paid me." She leant down trying to make eye contact with the clearly distraught Prince. "So you going to tell me what's wrong champ?"

"It was just a silly dream, nothing to worry about." His voice had just the slightest tremble to it, something was really eating away at him. He suddenly sat up stretching his back as he did so "get some sleep Aayla, I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"And what are you going to do?" Aayla's brows were scrunched in concern she had never seen Frieza like this. He was usually so focused and held himself with an authority wherever he went, but now that was gone, she could only hope this change would be short lived.

"I just need some fresh air maybe go for a walk." With that he opened the door to his quarters before Aayla's words halted him in place.

"Hey Frieza, I'm glad King Cold's dead" she could see his muscles clench at the mention of his father's name. "But I am sorry you lost your dad" at that some of the tension seemed to leave his shoulders just as he left the room. As the door shut behind him Frieza sighed to himself.

"Me too."

* * *

Seluba stood staring into the camera knowing that he was about to speak to over ten thousand of his subordinates. An immense number to be sure but they were all necessary for this attack to be successful. Over the years he had grown quite adept at public speaking, how else would he have been able to form such a vast army. He could feel Shuyo directly behind him staring him down the entire time, Seluba knew the green warrior no longer trusted him. That was fine though the idealistic fool was one of those people who stuck by their word. Since Shuyo promised to assist the GFM he would do that until his task was complete whether or not he liked it. The guilt trip placed on him by King Cold's rampage across the sector helped in that regard as well.

"My friends today we stand on a momentous occasion, not since the death of Lord Chilled have we been provided with such a golden opportunity for freedom." He let the words sink in as he knew every ear in the fleet was now listening to him. "Yesterday we managed to intercept video footage that I'm sure all of you will rejoice over." The Crodan's mandibles were clicking in anticipation "King Cold, our oppressor, our tyrant, our enemy is now dead!"

He gave another pause knowing that throughout the fleet his subjects were murmuring in disbelief or cheering at the top of their lungs. He took pride in seeing the shocked look on Shuyo's face as well, the mystery warrior couldn't believe what he had heard. With a quick hand gesture to his technical support staff the video was splayed across Freedom's Hammer viewport as well as every screen in the fleet. They had cut out the majority of the footage as the fight had been quite lengthy but what it did show was the final moments of the battle, of King Cold being propelled into space by his own Supernova.

"I'm sure many of you are wondering who could have possibly performed this miracle, who could have aided our liberation so immeasurably, but unfortunately we were unable to collect that information, but know that we are forever in their debt." He took a moment of silence to pretend to pay his respects for the warriors who defeated King Cold, they meant nothing to him personally but he had to keep up appearances.

It was actions like this that had destroyed Shuyo's trust in Seluba. At first he actually believed the bug man was genuinely out to free the galaxy but little fake actions like this just showed how duplicitous the cockroach could be. The venomous thoughts Shuyo was feeling had shocked him almost as much as the footage of King Cold's demise. Clearly being around Seluba was having a negative effect on Shuyo's thoughts, the sooner he got away from the GFM the better.

"With their father dead Frieza and Cooler are the last of the monarchy once they and Fuar fall we will be free, the galaxy itself will finally be free!" Seluba could almost hear the cheering coming from the lower decks of Freedom's Hammer. "Tomorrow we begin our greatest triumph yet, we will launch all of our might at the PTO homeworld, and we will be victorious!" The uproar from the lower decks could be easily heard now, those morons were loving this. He then took on a more somber tone which was needed to focus his forces and get some of the undoubtedly nervous souls on board with the attack. "I will not lie to you, many of you will not be returning home tomorrow but that is why we must fight with all our might. This is our only chance to put down this empire in one fell swoop otherwise the galaxy will be plunged into an all-out war that has not been seen in over two thousand years." Now for the icing on the cake nothing got these fools more focused than a little personal reminder. "If we do not succeed it is our families and our people who will suffer most, our deaths would be swift but they would continue in slavery and poverty under this oppressive regime. When the time comes tomorrow fight with everything you have, not for yourselves, but for those you care about they are depending on you the most."

With that Seluba nodded to close the feed, pleased with his speech no doubt that would get his troops to give it their all. Behind him though Shuyo was glaring at the Crodan with distaste, the rotten bug was using them, every last one of them to achieve his revenge. "Seluba a word" Shuyo left the bridge knowing the treacherous cockroach would follow.

"Well Shuyo what do you want to talk about I'm a little busy getting our men ready for tomorrow" the smirk he had on his face made it difficult for Shuyo to keep his cool.

"Cut the nonsense I know you don't care for any of them, they could all die horribly tomorrow and you don't care so long as you get your vengeance." Seluba merely held his ground staring up into Shuyo's eyes with the same smug grin. "What's so funny?" Shuyo narrowed his eyes suspiciously towards the rebel leader.

"What's funny is that it doesn't matter what you do or say this attack is going to happen tomorrow so you can join in and do your part, or leave over ten thousand lives to be slaughtered by the Frost Demons." Seluba now had his arms crossed and his mandibles were scraping against each other showing just how at ease he was. "So what's it gonna be big green?"

Shuyo was stuck he couldn't just leave these people on their own, they wouldn't stand a chance without him, and Seluba knew that so he was playing off of Shuyo's own good nature. Seluba had done this to most of his forces and now he was doing it to him as well. "I will fight alongside them but when this battle is over we are done, understand?"

The gravely laugh coming from the Crodan was like nails on a chalkboard "I understand you perfectly my _friend_ , I assure you when this is all over you will never have to deal with me again." The glint in his eyes left an uneasy feeling in Shuyo's stomach. "Now then if you'll excuse me I need to go to the labs to finalise a few matters." With that the rebel commander turned away and quickly began making his way down the halls leaving Shuyo behind to dwell on his own thoughts.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

* * *

A barrage of laser fire streaked towards Frieza from his right while a gravity tether latched onto his leg from below holding him in place. Under normal circumstances he could have dodged them both easily but being sleep deprived and with gravity in the room set to x300 the galactic standard he was having significant difficulty. The lasers impacted his shoulder leaving a series of scorch marks, Frieza turned his attention to the turret circling the training room preparing to blast it with a Death Beam. That was when he was blasted from behind by a concussion cannon sending him spiralling into the hard ground.

"Perhaps a late night work out wasn't the best idea" Frieza braced himself for the coming barrage when he felt the gravity suddenly return to normal. The gravity tether let go of his leg allowing him to place himself in a sitting position and glance around at what had turned the session off. The turrets had switched to their standby mode and were currently on either side of a certain cyan haired scientist.

"Ah Lord Frieza there you are" Nadan was inspecting some of the dings in the shell of the laser turret as Frieza made his way over to him.

"Why did you shut the room down?" Frieza had a scowl on his face and his arms were crossed in what had become his default state when he was grumpy. He forgot how little sleep the Malakan's required, he wasn't expecting Nadan to be up so late.

"Well I was going over the footage of the battle on Earth to see if we could salvage any significant data from it." He had finished inspecting the laser turret and set it to slide into its storage unit in the wall and was now circling the mobile gravity tether. "Then I realised that you were in here I decided to tell you what I found."

"So what did you find?" Frieza was now tapping his finger on his forearm, Nadan was always somewhat scatterbrained while working on his machines.

"From the battle itself, nothing much your father took the Earthlings far too lightly. They used their superior numbers to stay on your father and never gave him a chance to focus on one of them. No doubt his inability to sense energy didn't help his situation, they simply wore him down over time." Nadan had finished the tether's inspection and was now examining the cannons to see their energy outputs.

"That couldn't have been the way he lost no one save the Super Saiyans could have actually harmed him." Frieza was beyond skeptical that those weaklings could have done any significant damage.

"Precisely my Lord they really didn't until after the Super Saiyan arrived, your father pushed his body to his maximum power at that point." Nadan gave the cannon a little pat and smile as it rolled back into its wall storage unit. "Your father was already wearing his own body out at an incredible rate from his fully transformed state, once he hit 100% of his power he burned himself out in minutes. Perhaps if he had been as use to that form as Lord Cooler or yourself then maybe he would have won but he was ill prepared for that fight."

"Did you gather anything else? Power levels for instance?" Frieza would have liked to have something practical to go off of if at all possible.

"Unfortunately no my Lord if we were to pick up energy levels I have no doubt the probe wouldn't have been able to handle it." Nadan was now at the center of the room examining the main control hub for the training room. "Lord Frieza, why are you pushing yourself at 300x gravity at this ungodly hour?"

"If you must know I couldn't sleep so I decided to try and tire myself out, I believe it may have worked." In response to this Frieza stretched his arms out feeling the ache in them as he reached for the ceiling.

Nadan stood directly in front of Frieza with both hands on his hips, no doubt picking the posture up from Weiss. "My Lord as the closest thing you have to a personal physician I must implore you to get some rest you're going to burn yourself out like your father if you continue like this." The stubborn Malakan was one of the few beings in the universe who dared stand up to the Frost Demon, looking back Frieza realised there was never one time where Nadan seemed afraid of him.

Frieza couldn't help but start to chuckle, the first real bit of laughter to come from the Prince for days "very well then Nadan I will try once again to get some sleep maybe I'll settle for a short walk before I try again." He had almost made to the doors when Nadan called out from behind him catching his attention.

"I almost forgot my Lord, someone else was watching that video feed, I was unable to trace the signal but someone saw everything we did." Nadan's expression was grim, no doubt knowing that some unknown force had been spying on the footage and that same force managed to best him technologically had left a bad taste in the Malakan's mouth.

"We'll look further into this tomorrow then" after a brief pause Frieza turned back to Nadan "you try and get some rest to, you look rather tired as well." With that the Frost Demon left the room with a whole new thing to contemplate on top of his cryptic dreams, which he realised were still burned in his mind. Frieza decided he would go for a walk to cool off then try his hand at sleeping again, but the longer he walked the further lost in his own thoughts he became. Who had been spying on that footage and why? What did that damn dream mean? Why did Aayla seem so concerned for him? How was he going to handle the upcoming conference? All these questions were swirling in Frieza's head with no hope of being answered.

He was barely paying attention to his surroundings on his walk he soon found that his feet had taken him to a familiar location. It was a balcony from his childhood one that his mother had often brought him and Cooler to. She had said it was one of her favourite spots in the world as it was where their father had proposed to her, back in the days where he was a kinder soul.

"So you couldn't sleep either?" Frieza was finally snapped out of his dreamlike stupor by his brother's voice. Cooler was leaning against the ornate banister looking out at the city before him. There was a gap in the buildings that led straight towards the mountains in the distance, Frieza could see why his mother loved this spot so much, she always enjoyed nature and being outside.

"Does anyone in this damn palace sleep?" First Aayla then Nadan and now Cooler this was getting ridiculous.

"I don't believe so, I saw your chef making those three kids of yours some food about an hour ago" Cooler couldn't help chuckle at Frieza's agitated frown.

"They are not my kids…" Frieza would have continued but the flash of Weiss' dead body flashed back to him sending a shiver down his spine. It was just a dream but it had seemed so real.

"Something wrong?" Cooler had raised an eyebrow at the glazed over look on his brother's face. Walking towards Frieza from his spot along the banister Cooler snapped his fingers in his brother's face to get his attention. "Snap out of it brother" when that didn't work Cooler decided a 'light' jab to the ribs should do the trick.

The startled yelp brought an amused smirk to Cooler's face. "Grrr what was that for?"

"I thought I lost you there brother, you were off in your own little world." Cooler was now back at the railing with his back to the skyline. "I've heard functioning families talk about their problems, would you care to discuss?"

That was it Frieza couldn't hold it back anymore, with a loud snort the tyrant broke down into hysterics. "HAHAHAHAHA functioning, oh dear brother I think that the reason I haven't been able to sleep is because we are so damn dysfunctional." Sobering himself once again he looked to Cooler once again "so how do you think we should proceed now that father's gone?" Cooler was not fooled by Frieza's blatant and quite frankly sloppy attempt to change the subject, but he would let it got in this instance.

"Well we don't announce it yet that's for sure, we will wait for the conference and see what the rest of the counsel has to say." As always Cooler was thinking logically, the announcement of King Cold's death could attract any number of incidents. But there was still that breach Nadan had picked up that was eating away at him. Frieza had crossed his arms and his tail was wagging back and forth as it usually did when he was deep in thought.

"Nadan found that someone else had been watching the feed, and it seems we are incapable of tracking them." Cooler began tapping his chin at that, a sure sign he too was thinking hard on this revelation.

"So we have some unknown entity that knows father is dead, yet the news has not been spread. If it were the GFM they would have no doubt spread that as far out across the galaxy as they could." But if it wasn't that rabble then who else would have such an interest in that kind of information and not release it to the galaxy. "I suppose for now there's no way for us to know for sure, father's death will be made public after the conference anyways so just a few more days nothing more." Cooler felt uneasy about the news but there was no point in getting worked up about it, however he would make sure to inform his forces of a possible information leak.

"I guess that means one of us will be taking the throne then." The prospect brought an uneasy feeling to Frieza, he knew that before Namek he would have been ecstatic at the prospect of such power and influence. But now the day to day administration, the idea of doing nothing but sitting in a chair indefinitely and the responsibility of running the empire brought on nothing but dread.

"What do you mean one of us? Clearly it will be you, father's been grooming you since birth for the position." Cooler had one of his eyebrows raised in confusion, he still wasn't use to this new Frieza he was dealing with.

"I don't want it anymore, I don't want the responsibility, plus King Cooler sounds far better than King Frieza." The younger Frost Demon chuckled as he glanced to the heavens above, "now that he's not here to conduct my every move, I want to start choosing my own path, just as mother always wanted from us."

Cooler walked up and placed his both of his hands on his brother's shoulders looking him directly in the eye. "Now are you sure you're my brother?" Again Cooler was obviously joking but a small part of him still had trouble grasping the changes to his brother.

"AHAHAHA, fool you have found me out it is actually I, the illustrious CAPTAIN GINYU!" Frieza held himself with arms outstretched in his attempt at humour. Dear lord he must be tired to have thought that was funny, but clearly Cooler was even more tired as he chuckled at his brother's absurdity.

"Come now Frieza let's get some rest" placing his hand on his brother's back Cooler led Frieza off the balcony. The two brothers walked down the halls of their ancestors proudly side by side smiling as they joked with each other on their way to the sleeping quarters. Frieza couldn't help but be reminded of their youth when they had been friends and would joke around like they did now. Of course that had been before their father had pitted them against each other for his approval, before the loss of their beloved mother. Frieza hoped they would be able to mend the countless years of hatred that had sprouted between each other.

When they finally reached the sleeping quarters Cooler turned left to head off to his private suite while Frieza continued right going up another set of stairs to his own room. As he entered he realised something was amiss, it took him a solid minute of scanning his room before he realised what it was. It was the bed! It should have been a pile of burned cinders, but here it was as good as new. As Frieza approached the bed, he noticed a small handwritten note on the pillow. Picking it up Frieza read through it, his brow furrowed as he read the elegant writing.

 _Hey Frieza so I thought you might need a new bed as you kinda toasted the last one so I went to one of the guest rooms and grabbed one of those. Don't worry about the old one it's been…. disposed of muahahaha. I hope you sleep well when you finally drag yourself into bed._

 _From your bodyguard whose always got your back Aayla_

 _PS please don't torch this one_

The note did bring a smile to the Frost Demon's face but it also brought back one of the thoughts that had been nagging at him all evening. Why was Aayla so concerned for him?

* * *

"Sir I have to once again beg you to reconsider this isn't even dangerous anymore this is suicide." The head physician had been attempting to dissuade Seluba for the past three hours to no avail. What the Crodan was demanding was insanity, in all his years in the medical field he had never heard of such a request.

"You have all the data needed and I am demanding the procedure, so either you do it or leave it in the hands of someone less experienced." Seluba's mandibles were sliding along each other in agitation, why was this so hard for this moron to understand.

With a shuddering breath the physician's shoulders sagged in defeat "very well." A triumphant grin spread across the rebel leader's face as he looked at the defeated man before him. Seluba knew full well that he would never allow such a dangerous procedure to be undertaken by anything less than a professional of the highest caliber.

"Wonderful now let's get started right away I need to be ready for our big day tomorrow" Seluba said his voice full of delight at finally getting his way. He quickly hopped onto the medical bays operating table, placing his arms behind his head like he didn't have a care in the universe.

The physician still looked doubtful as he prepared the anesthetic and Seluba couldn't really blame him one small misstep and he could accidently murder the leader of the GFM. As the needle pierced through the underside of his carapace Seluba couldn't help but giggle at the prospect of what he was about to undergo "so close." The rebel leader's vision began to blur and soon he was consumed by darkness as the anesthetic did its job.

Laughter rang out all around Seluba in the black void that surrounded him. It was laughter he knew all too well, the laughter of a monster, of a tyrant of his most hated enemy. Seluba had this dream before many times actually as the months stretched on these cryptic thoughts kept entering his subconscious while he slept. It had gotten rather boring actually any moment now Frieza would appear before him gloating about his seizure of his home planet Crodan.

As if on cue the Frost Demon appeared in that ridiculous hover chair, the same words came out as they always did. The first dozen or so times this dream occurred Seluba had been shocked by the clarity of it, but after so many nights enduring it he had grown bored with this little trip down memory lane.

Blah blah blah taxes, blah blah blah trade agreements, blah blah blah BORING! Seluba recognized there was probably some deep seeded meaning to this dream but he had given up trying to decode it months ago. Taking a moment he focused on the events transpiring before him, they were at the part where Seluba made the biggest mistake of his life.

"My people will not bow to your whims you arrogant piece of filth." It was a fine insult to be sure but one that had changed the Crodan's future forever. As Frieza's face changed from smug derision to angered frown the scene once again changed and they were now at the finale. Frieza with his Supernova held above his head and the defenseless Planet Crodan down below. Despite seeing it hundreds of times at this point he still felt a surge of rage and sadness every time he was forced to watch his world, his home vanish in a blinding flash of light.

Just as Frieza threw the Supernova something changed the world warped and Seluba was now outside of Frieza's ship. This is new, Seluba thought to himself guessing his subconscious thought he deserved an even closer view of his home's death this time. He could hear laughter once again but this time it seemed different but he couldn't place his finger on it.

His thoughts were interrupted as the massive ball of Ki hurtled down towards the planet but this time it wasn't the typical fiery orange. Instead the ball was smaller and bright silver in colour, this put the Crodan on edge, what was going on here. A little change wasn't the worst thing in the universe but after months of the exact same dream having it suddenly alter as it did put an uneasy feeling in the rebel commander's gut.

As the ball tore through the sky towards Planet Crodan Seluba braced himself once again for the explosion, covering his eyes with his forearms. But the explosion never came, the ball of Ki was being held back by something, the whole time that annoying laughter kept droning on. Staring down from above Seluba's eyes widened in shock at what he was seeing now. It was Frieza! He was holding back the silver ball of Ki his teeth clenched in concentration as his purple aura enveloped his body. Time stopped in that moment as he watched the man who had ruined his life attempt to save his planet, granted this was a dream so clearly it wouldn't change anything but it still confused Seluba to no end. One question did surface as he stared in disbelief, if Frieza was the one defending his home, who was trying to destroy it? Seluba turned his upwards to look to who the assailant was. His eyes widened in horror at the sight, it was him! Seluba himself stood atop Frieza's saucer his face contorted in the manic laughter he had been enduring since the dream changed. "WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!" Seluba shouted as the scene was plunged into total darkness that swallowed him whole.

Waking with a start Seluba whipped his head back and forth taking in his surroundings, he was still in the medical bay of Freedom's Hammer. As he placed a hand over his eyes to help get rid of their blurriness, the dream rushed back to him in vivid detail. What had it meant, why the sudden change so close to the eve of battle? He was so focused on his own thoughts he didn't even notice the head physician trying to get his attention until he tapped the Crodan's shoulder.

"Sir are you ok? Can you hear me?" Seluba's eyes focused on that of his caregiver as he returned to reality.

"I can hear you and I'm fine, tell me was the operation a success?" Seluba could put the matters of that dream behind him for the time being, after all there were more pressing concerns.

"Yes sir a complete success, just as you requested." The solemn expression gracing the doctor's face made it all too clear he was unhappy with what he had performed at the Crodan's request.

Seluba's mandibles clicked happily together "excellent I want you to go over every step." In all honesty he didn't feel all that different other than a dull ache that ran through his body.

"I was able to install the mutagen release mechanisms you requested into several key areas specifically in your frontal cortex, close to your left ventricle and along your spinal column. Once they are activated your body will undergo a transformation that, when it's over, will multiply your own power by three hundred." The doctor was now wringing his hands as he recalled each process taken. "They've all been linked to that device now embedded in your arm." Seluba was surprised he hadn't noticed it, the device itself was a small metal panel that was embedded in his exoskeleton with only a single red touchpad on it. "By placing your index finger on that pad it will trigger the release of the mutagens." The device itself was a simple finger print analyser, the only person who could set it off was Seluba himself.

"I've never been good with figuring out power levels doc care to give me some concrete numbers?" That was the million credit question if he couldn't match Shuyo at the least then this procedure had been for nothing.

"After analysing the data you provided I can say you should be on par with Mr. Lool, your base power is roughly 500,000 once the mutagens do their job you will be over 150,000,000" the doctor knew that's what he wanted to hear, but now it was time for the bad news. "S-Sir there is one last thing I need to inform you of." He was starting to get nervous he had no clue how Seluba would react to this. "It's as I feared sir if you choose to use the mutagens you may not survive, your power will increase immensely that much is certain, but your body will not be able to take the strain."

"So what are you saying that if use this power I may die in the process?" Seluba narrowed his eyes suspiciously towards the physician.

"I'm saying that after at most five minutes your body will burn itself out and you will not survive, the mutagen will begin eating away at you from the inside out. Your body won't accept the introduction of these substances and the rejection will be fatal there's no way around it."

Seluba stood to face the physician placing one of his fingers on his chest "let me get this straight for those five minutes I will have unbelievable power at my disposal, enough to challenge Frieza himself?"

"Yes sir that's correct" the doctor's eyes were scrunched in worry gazing at the rebel leader before him.

"Fantastic, that's all I asked for" and with that Seluba fired a silver Ki blast from his index finger piercing straight through the doctors heart killing him instantly. "No need for any witnesses" Seluba chuckled to himself as he picked up the physician's lifeless corpse and dumped into the med bay's trash shoot. He was still chuckling to himself as he left the med bay itself, it did not matter that the process would kill him, in all honesty he hadn't felt truly alive in years anyway. He knew that he would die happily so long as before he went he knew that Frieza and his kind had been purged from the universe.

"Frieza, by the time I'm through you, your wretched people and that snowball you call home will be nothing more than a pile of smouldering ashes and a memory." As Seluba walked down the halls he began to laugh it was uncontrollable and he embraced it his own fate was now sealed, so he might as well get as much enjoyment as he could.

That manic laughter rang through the halls of Freedom's Hammer, matching the exact cackling he had heard in his dream. Seluba would never truly realise he had become the monster he hated so very much.

* * *

 **Authors Notes:** **Yes! Over 2000 views guys that's great I'm so happy that my story's reaching so many people you guys have been great and I've been loving the feedback. I got to apologize for the lateness of this chapter I had my first ever case of writers block. Luckily I was able to work through it.**

 **So for Frieza's dream sequence I actually drew inspiration from a dream I had myself and that has actually stuck with me for years. Granted the bad things in my past don't involve murder, genocide and planet destruction. When it came to Krillin's death dialogue it was a tough choice actually I was having trouble choosing the original or the Kai version. This was one of the few times I decided Kai would be a better fit and went with that (I had to watch a lot of Krillin exploding before coming to that decision).**

 **Also trying to subtly build on Aayla's and Frieza relationship, this is now clearly more than a boss employee thing. One of the main parts of this chapter was trying to emphasize that Frieza is not alone and he does have people who genuinely like him despite his flaws and look out for him.**

 **Another main point is Seluba in the coming battle he will need to be stronger but I didn't want to just arbitrarily make him more powerful. I needed to show that he will do anything and sacrifice whatever is needed to kill Frieza he doesn't even put himself above his need for vengeance, which I feel shows just how damaged he truly is.**

 **I know not much action in this chapter but hey we're going for an all-out planetary war next chapter and my inner sci-fi nerd is simply overjoyed.**

 **As always guys if you want to ask a question or just talk about the story itself I'm always ready with answers so just leave a review or pm and I'll get back to you as fast as I possibly can**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter PEACE!**


	7. Chapter 7 - The Rebellion Strikes Back

Despite everything that occurred the previous evening Frieza had in fact managed to get some sleep in his new bed. Feeling refreshed and ready for anything he stood in the center of the training room with his arms folded across his chest and a small smile on his face. Frieza moved his head slightly to the left just as Weiss' fist appeared from behind, missing its intended target by barely an inch. Weiss was now stretched out and completely vulnerable as Frieza's tail coiled around the Frost Demoness' ankle. The young girl let out a startled yelp as Frieza whipped his tail in front of him dragging his young protégé with it. She was now hanging upside-down with her own arms crossed and a pout on her face "I thought I had you that time."

"If I were anyone else that punch would have definitely connected" Frieza chuckled as he turned the young girl back on her feet. "You keep overextending yourself with punches, your arms are still a little too short to give you the reach needed, try using your tail more."

Weiss cradled her tail in her arms nervously "but I'm still not really used to using it in a fight."

Frieza chuckled at the young girl as he bent down and placed a reassuring hand atop her head. "Well isn't that why we have these little sparring matches?" Straightening back up Frieza once again crossed his arms "try again."

Weiss vanished from sight as she hit her max speed this time leading with a kick aimed once again for the back of Frieza's head. Just as before though Frieza tilted his head at the last moment and the kick hit nothing but air. Weiss had planned for this though and firing off a quick Ki blast from her foot she was able to pivot while still in the air aiming her tail at Frieza's midsection. The young Demoness spirit soared and quickly plummeted back down as her tail passed right through the Afterimage left in Frieza's wake.

"Not bad, a very nice improvement already" Weiss turned around to see her mentor standing a foot behind her that smirk still on his face. She knew he wasn't trying to be condescending so Weiss never took it personally, but something about it just made her want to punch it right off his face.

"Oh come on I totally had you that time!" Weiss pouted with her arms crossed just like Frieza.

"I'll give you that one, boosting your strike with a Ki blast was a nice touch I didn't see it coming." Giving compliments had become much easier over the past year especially with the young one, but it was still somewhat uncharted territory for the Frost Demon.

"Humph you still managed to dodge it." In all honesty she would have been happy to land even one shot on Frieza just to show she could. She had many close calls over the last few months, but even though her power had increased immensely she still couldn't connect a single hit.

"Well of course my dear I am the mightiest in the universe after all." With that Frieza gave an exaggerated bow and Weiss saw her opportunity.

With a burst of speed Weiss charged forward at her bowed mentor aiming her fist right for the top of his head. Frieza had expected such a tactic and his tail was ready and coiled around her wrist stopping her momentum. Once again Weiss fired a burst of Ki from both her feet to propel her waist towards Frieza, her tail was poised to connect but was met by Frieza's own leg catching the tail mid swing.

"I do appreciate exploiting the element of surprise but you need to get more creative if you want to truly catch your opponent off guard." Teaching, much like compliments, were something new to Frieza, but he felt like he was doing a better job in that department.

"Ok" Weiss chimed in as her eyes flashed emerald and twin beams shot out impacting Frieza right in the face. The sudden impact had taken Frieza by total surprise and he released his old on Weiss' tail just as she swung a punch towards him. The punch was caught before impact but that had been the point as the Frost Demoness' tail coiled around Frieza's exposed leg and pulled him forward, directly into Weiss' outstretched front kick.

The impact had taken Frieza by surprise, the girl packed a bigger punch than Tukkan! As he regained his composure Frieza sought out his young protégé. She was busy zipping around the training room cheering at the top of her lungs. "I DID IT! I DID IT! I FINALLY GOT YOU! WOOOOO!" It had taken months but she finally managed to land a physical hit on Frieza and she couldn't have been happier. Coming to a halt she nervously looked to her mentor, while yes she had managed to hit him she had to use her Ki attack to set it up. They had only been practicing with physical moves up until that point. "Umm I'm sorry about using my Gorgeous Beam there Frieza." She was holding her tail nervously as she smiled up at her mentor who once again had his arms crossed.

Her nervousness was soon alleviated as his frown was once again replaced with his trademark smirk "I told you to get creative and you did, I'm quite impressed." As Frieza walked towards his protégé he caught on to something she had said. "Did you call that eye blast your 'Gorgeous Beam'?" His eyebrow was now cocked as he thought over the name choice.

"Yeah Raijin thought of it for me" she answered happily.

"Ugh that boy cannot think of a good name for an attack to save his life." Frieza covered his eyes has he smiled at the thought of the boy first seeing the Frost Demon's Death Beam and insisting on calling it the Assault Reaper Laser. Both mentor and student shared a laugh as they prepped themselves for another round. As Weiss charged once again at Frieza, the elder Frost Demon couldn't help but think today was going to be a fantastic day.

* * *

As Seluba stood aboard the bridge of Freedom's Hammer he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. This nervousness wasn't one born of fear or uncertainty, it was one of anticipation. Much like a child waking up on Qrem to receive their presents, Seluba was nervously awaiting his own gift. As the fleet pulled out of hyperspace he saw his prize the pale blue planet, Fuar. Activating the communicator that linked to every ship in the fleet Seluba prepared to give one final speech.

"My brothers and sisters today we reclaim our freedom, fight hard, fight well, do not give the enemy an inch for they will not give any in return, let's kill us some demons!" He could hear the deafening roars of approval through the communicator bringing a smile to his face. Sometimes a quick to the point declaration beat a long drawn out speech. Turning around Seluba was greeted by the glare of Shuyo, once again the self-righteous green skinned warrior seemed to have a bone to pick with the rebel leader. Audibly sighing Seluba decided to address his partner's presence "what do you want shouldn't you be preparing for the attack?"

Shuyo simply stared down the rebel leader before slowly turning away and leaving the bridge. Seluba had been dealing with the green warrior for months now and part of his excitement over the coming battle was that by the end of it he would no longer have to tolerate his presence. At first Shuyo's self-righteous attitude was exactly what he had hoped for, someone who stuck to their morals and would fight for what was 'right'. As time went on however he quickly realised just how much the man got on his nerves, always preaching about the betterment of all and how a peaceful resolution to the war would be the better route once the Cold's were removed.

Shaking away thoughts his thoughts of Shuyo, Seluba took a moment to once again mentally prepare for the coming battle. The attack itself was to be a simple one, no cunning strategies or devious plots. Seluba was going to throw the full force of the Galactic Freedom Movement at Fuar, the last one standing would be declared the victor. Of course they would have the element of surprise catching Frieza and his people flat footed, but at the end of the day the strongest would win.

As the fleet pulled into the atmosphere of Fuar a calming wave spread through Seluba's body as he gazed out at the shielded cities beneath his mighty warships. He had been preparing for this moment for years now and when it was all over Frieza and his wretched people would be gone, Seluba would finally have the vengeance he so craved.

Every gunner, every pilot, every warrior and every crewmember of the fleet waited with baited breath for the order from their leader. Each and every one of them ready to fight to the death on this frozen rock their oppressors called home. They knew many of them would not be coming back from this fight, but they were resigned, to them this was more than just about themselves this was for the fate of the entire galaxy. None of them would realise that this entire endeavour was merely a broken survivor's quest to avenge his own loss. None of them would ever know that their fearless leader who brought them all together was prepared to sacrifice every last one of them if it meant Frieza's death. So when their communicators finally lit up and the voice of Seluba rang throughout the fleet ordering the attack they cheered, they yelled, they soared from the hangars with vim and vigour charging to the ground below just as the cannons from the ships above began laying down heavy bombardment into the shields that protected the cities. As the shielding finally succumbed to the intense bombardment they charged into the breach only to be met by the forces of the Planet Trade Organization.

The battle for Fuar had officially begun, and up above on the bridge of Freedom's Hammer Seluba stood watching the fires and explosions tear the cities of Fuar apart. With a smile on his face he waited for the arrival of his nemesis.

* * *

Weiss was improving by leaps and bounds and Frieza couldn't help but feel a swell of pride for the girl as she pressed forward attacking Frieza. Her unorthodox style kept Frieza on his toes and while she didn't quite have the natural strength and speed to compete with Frieza she still hung in there. Frieza chuckled at how this little girl was already doing better than those fools back on Namek.

Just as Frieza ducked to avoid Weiss' tail he felt the entire ship shake violently and could just make out the muffled sounds of explosions occurring in the distance. Both mentor and student locked eyes and began heading to exit the training room when Nadan's voice rang out on the ships intercom system. "My Lord you have to hurry we're under attack!" Nadan's voice was not its usual boisterous self, there was panic and fear in it that Frieza rarely heard from the Malakan.

Going over to the intercom system by the door Frieza responded back over the entire ship. "What do you mean we're under attack who is it?" At first a feeling of dread spread through Frieza at the thought of Goku and that mystery kid, but Nadan quickly dashed those thoughts.

"It's the GFM they pulled out of hyperspace and began bombing runs on every city on the planet, now their soldiers are touching down." A fierce scowl passed over Frieza's face as Nadan's words sunk in, those cowards were only capable of sneak attacks and attacking the unarmed citizens of his kingdom, and just as before they would all pay for this. Frieza quickly grabbed a communicator off the wall, he would need to stay in close contact with Nadan if he was going to take part in the planet's defense.

"Nadan I have a communicator can you hear me?" Frieza waited what felt like an eternity, every second that passed were more Frost Demon lives lost.

"Yes my Lord crystal clear, Lord Cooler and his armored squad have already started leading the defenses, but there are tens of thousands out there my Lord he's being overrun." Nadan already seemed to be monitoring the battle bringing Frieza a bit more confidence as he ran out of the training room with Weiss in tow.

"Nadan I need you to get this ship off world alright, you need to be my mission control and keep tabs on this battle." Frieza came to a halt just outside the dining area where Tukkan, Raijin and Tyr were waiting for his orders. "I need all four of you to stay aboard The Nemesis where it's safe." Frieza didn't need a repeat of last time his home was attacked and all his allies were spread across the planet.

"Four?" Weiss looked up at her mentor with a hint of anger mixed in with her usually stoic expression. "Frieza I don't want to stay let me help, it's my home to!" Under normal circumstances Frieza might have allowed this but as Frieza looked down at the communicator streaming live information of the battle he realised this was no battle for a child, as powerful as she was it was chaos out there.

"You need to stay and protect the ship" it was a cliché response but it was also true she, was the strongest of the group surpassing even Tukkan. "I need you to watch everyone's backs, the ship will be cloaked so you should be safe but anything can happen. If you come under attack out in space you are the only one who can defend the ship." This seemed to soften the Frost Demoness' features as her mentors words sunk in but Frieza could still see a hint of annoyance in her eyes. Placing a reassuring hand over the young girl's head Frieza gave her the best smile he could "don't worry I'll finish this up quickly then we can get back to training." With that said Frieza turned around and quickly ran out of dining area.

Up on the bridge of The Nemesis Nadan could see as Frieza gave him the thumbs up that he was clear for takeoff. Not taking any chances the Malakan immediately activated the cloaking systems before activating the engines. He pushed the engines to their limit knowing that Frieza needed field support as soon as possible. It took only thirty seconds to find a safe zone up in the upper reaches of the exosphere. Heading over to his work station Nadan began gathering information on every battle taking place. As he gazed down at the mess of information flooding his screens he could only sigh to himself knowing he was in for a long day.

An alarm suddenly went off, Nadan slid over to the command console only to have a surge of panic rush through him. The air lock had been opened and shut for just a moment, at first Nadan thought it must have been an intruder but a quick scan of the ships camera feed showed no signs of a trespasser. In fact the only other people he could see were Raijin, Tyr, Tukkan and….. "Oh no" rushing to the viewport Nadan's eyes widened in horror as a streak of emerald light raced back down to the planet under siege.

* * *

Streaking through the air it didn't take long until Frieza found his first group of enemy combatants, they were already engaged with a group of his own soldiers. Needless to say his group was losing as three GFM grunts dogpiled one soldier while two others blasted a building's supports hoping to bring it down on a group of civilians trying to escape. Quickly reaching out with his telekinesis Frieza halted the building's decent long enough for the people underneath to make their escape. Frieza turned to the two who had tried to bring the building down firing a Death Beam straight through each of their chests, before their bodies could even hit the ground Frieza had already moved on to the three others of the group. Coiling his tail around one of the assailant's neck Frieza lifted him off his quarry, the other two grunts just realising what was going on jumped forward and attacked the Frost Demon.

Both tried to throw the biggest punches they could but Frieza easily caught both with his own hands. A quick pull and both of their shoulders were now dislocated, at that moment however a feeling he remembered all too well sent a piercing pain through his tail. The vermin had bit him! Frieza turned his head to lock eyes with the soldier still being strangled by his tail. Flexing the muscles in his tail he quickly shook it to the side breaking his neck in the process, Frieza then turned to the other two who were now on the ground in pain. "Enough of this nonsense" Frieza quickly slammed his foot down directly onto one of the soldier's chest, he could feel the man's sternum shattering upon impact bringing a small smirk to the tyrant's face. Turning to the other soldier a quick Death Beam put an end to his miserable existence.

Frieza took a moment to check the information being streamed to him, things were not good those damn warships were pummeling the surface and the PTO forces were simply not prepared for such an immense attack. Most of their forces had formed up alongside Cooler back at the palace and that was where the brunt of the assault was focused. In fact looking at the information told Frieza that apart from a few stragglers almost all of their ships were now committed to overwhelming the capital. Frieza took off in a roar of purple energy, if the palace was where most of the fighting was occurring then that's where he would be.

On his way over Frieza had still taken the time to blast anyone who looked even remotely hostile, but they were at best target practice for the real show coming up. As Frieza came up on a GFM warship he prepared a Death Ball in his right hand, the ships were slightly larger target practice he thought to himself. Before Frieza could throw his signature attack a flash erupted from some of the viewports along the middle of the cruiser. Crimson blades erupted from the center in all directions causing the ship to crumple in half before plummeting out of the air and exploding just above the ground.

Floating now in the warship's place was the azure beauty herself, wearing her black and ivory armor and enveloped in a burning aura of crimson Ki. Aayla tuned to see another warship approaching their position all the while their cannons rained down on the streets below. The look of pure rage would have made anyone shrink away from the Securan warrior.

"Giga Cannon!" Aayla thrust her right fist forwards firing a powerful ball of energy which tore straight through the front of the ship before detonating. The blast shredded the ship from the inside out, most of the ship had been vaporized by the blast, what was left could only be described as scorched confetti.

Spinning around Aayla locked eyes with Frieza as he approached her. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"You have?" Frieza cocked an eyebrow out of amusement.

"Yeah what part of BODYGUARD don't you get? Here I find you flying around in a warzone with no one watching your back." Aayla's arms were crossed in a very Frieza like fashion which only managed to bring a smile to the Frost Demon's face.

"My dear I assure you…" Frieza stopped for a moment to fire a Ki blast incinerating a group of GFM soldiers who had just entered the area. "None of these fools could even make me bleed much less put my life in danger. Now come we are heading back to the palace now Cooler's holding the defenses and I don't want him to have all the fun." After a quick nod from Aayla both her and Frieza took off once again this time leaving a trail of destruction and vanquished soldiers in their wake. At most the soldiers on the ground were lucky if they saw a flash of red or purple before their time was up.

* * *

Cooler hated playing defense, being on the offensive was far more to his liking. But these were one of the few occasions where he was forced to keep his men and his people safe. A true ruler puts his subjects first above all others. That had been something his mother had taught him from a very early age, it was one of the few things that stayed with him despite his father's best efforts to erase such lessons. So despite his desire to charge forward and rip the enemy ships from the skies he knew he had to hold the line. The warships' bombardment was so brutal that Cooler had spent most of the fight intercepting blasts and incoming shells while his soldiers evacuated the populace below and looked to engage the thousands of soldiers rushing them.

Firing off an occasional Death Flash skyward was all he could do offensively as his troops were almost always in danger. Luckily Salza and the rest of the squadron were doing their part to aid in the battle. As if on cue Dore exploded out of the bridge of one of dreadnaughts above before unleashing a barrage of Ki blasts along the hull to finish the job. Salza appeared beside a light cruiser sliding his Salza Blade along the hull until he reached the engines, from there he fired a blast of his own destroying the engines and sending the ship plummeting to the ground. The ship never made it though as Neiz appeared and unleashed a ball of energy that blew what was left of the cruiser to pieces.

He could always count on those three to destroy everything in their path giving Cooler time to defend his weaker forces. As if on cue an energy blast hurtled down towards an injured Frost Demon on the ground. Cooler swiftly intercepted the blast and swatted it back to its source, a small smirk graced the frost princes face as he watched the charred corpse of the attacker plummet out of the sky.

"T-Thank you My L-Lord" the man stuttered as he tried to get back to his feet. His scouter suddenly went wild beeping and trying to lock onto several high power levels before it finally exploded on the man's face.

Turning around Cooler saw over two dozen warriors clad in red armour racing towards the Frost Demon. With that many focusing on him Cooler would have to stop intercepting shots but it couldn't be helped. Quickly gathering a Supernova at the tip of his finger Cooler hurled the energy ball into the air, all but one of their group dodged out of the way, the fool that didn't died screaming. Just as the Supernova smashed through a command ship Cooler directed a burst of energy into the sphere causing it to self-destruct emitting an immense explosion severely damaging or outright destroying several ships in the air. Cooler hoped that would give his ground forces time to set up more defensible positions.

The first of the attackers closed in firing a straight blue Ki blast which impacted the Frost Demon's shoulder leaving a surprising welt behind. Clearly these chumps were stronger than they looked Cooler thought to himself as the rest closed in behind their comrade. Cooler took one last moment to gather some energy before taking off straight for that first warrior who had attacked him. Appearing in front of him Cooler had just enough time to smash the warrior to the ground with his tail before he was attacked from behind by another. Nimbly dodging out of the way Cooler responded with a Death Laser straight to the heart, surprisingly the soldiers armour withstood the blast, it was blown to pieces but the flesh underneath was unharmed. Cooler had been taken so off guard he didn't have enough time to react when six of the red clad warriors rushed him throwing punches and kicks while their partners fired Ki blasts from afar.

One on one not of these men would have stood a chance in hell against the frost prince, but having to focus on over twenty constantly moving targets was no easy matter. But true to his own name the Frost Demon kept his cool and felt the flow of the fight dodging, weaving and blocking incoming attacks, whenever he saw an opening he took it sending one of the fighters spiraling back down to the surface either in pain or dead.

"DORE! NEIZ! GET OVER HERE YOU SLACKERS! LORD COOLER IS OVERRUN!" Salza called out to the rest of the armoured squadron. Salza could barely make out his boss amidst the swarm of bodies surrounding him, however he did see some of them drop away only to regain their composure and charge back at the Frost Prince. Neiz was first to join up beside Salza he had several scorch marks running along his arms but for the most part he was fairly unharmed. Dore showed up a moment later holding an enemy soldier by the head, the creature was clearly dead yet Dore had a look of disappointment as he tossed the body away.

"Damn thing about invertebrates, the Can-Opener doesn't really work as well when they got no bones to break." Dore chuckled at the thought using his favourite technique on a more solid opponent. Looking down he saw the swarm of soldiers surrounding Cooler and his chuckle transformed to thrilled laughter. "Alright boys I believe it's go time!" and with that Dore, Neiz and Salza charged forward to give their boss a reprieve.

It wasn't much of one however, as soon as the three made their approach three of the red clad warriors broke off from the mosh of bodies to engage them. They were all evenly matched neither one able to gain any ground on the other but the armoured squadron had to worry about the constant threat of incoming cannon fire from above. This distraction led to them taking more hits than they should have and soon they were being pushed back farther from their boss.

Salza was busy dealing with a fellow Brench, his skin was a bright orange which was almost nauseating to look at. As they were trading blows Salza had to dodge an incoming projectile from one of the ships above. The momentary distraction was enough for his opponent to land a powerful snap kick to his jaw sending him into the side of an already crumbling building. Regaining his senses Salza looked up to see his opponent mere feet from him with arm outstretched and a blade of Ki formed around his raised hand. It was an exact copy of his own Salza Blade so he knew what would happen if that hit. Time seemed to slow as he ignited his own Ki blade but he was in no position to intercept, his opponent would land his hit first and it would be over.

Shutting his eyes tightly Salza prepared for his coming doom, any second now he would feel the pain of an energy blade carve through him. Any time now…. What was taking him so long? Salza opened his right eye a crack to see what the delay was. The sight he was greeted to snapped both eyes wide open. Weiss had her tail wrapped firmly around his would be executioner's throat from behind while she held both his arms behind his back leaving his chest puffed out. Not wasting another moment Salza charged forward sweeping his own blade across the orange Brench's abdomen. As his lower half fell to the rubble below Weiss let go of the now dead man.

"Never going to let you live that one down" Weiss cheerily exclaimed to the panting Salza.

"Not now we need to help Neiz and Dore and then get back to Lord Cooler" Salza wasted no time rushing towards Neiz who was closest to him. Neiz seemed to be having an easier time with his opponent who he had captured in his Bind Wave. The fighter looked like some kind of strange brown rock man with a heavy set chin. Every follow up punch from Neiz seemed to do no damage to his rocky adversary, his skin was simply too hard to break with a traditional attack.

"Heh heh heh I can sit here all day ugly and you won't even dent my skin" the rocky alien was laughing at Neiz's growing irritation.

"Zen we will take care of you a different way" Salza had appeared just below the rock man a glowing orb of purple Ki held in front of him. "Neiz get down here let's zee how monsieur tough skin handles zee vacuum of space!" Neiz quickly joined up beside his captain adding his own energy to Salza's ball together they pushed it upward lifting the rock man up into the atmosphere. Judging by his screaming it sounded like he was the type of person who needed air, what a shame because Neiz's Bind Wave kept him in place all the way on his trip to Fuar's moon.

Meanwhile Weiss and Dore seemed to have their hands full with their opponent. Whatever race he was he had six glowing yellow eyes, massive fangs and was around ten feet tall. The creature fought like a wild animal slashing at the duo with claws and biting at their outstretched hands when given the chance. Weiss closed in encircling her arm in Ki and using it to project her punch even faster landing a vicious uppercut that snapped the creatures head back. The feral beast was quick to recover however as he quickly lunged forward fangs outstretched looking to bite off the young girl's arm.

The monster's outstretched mouth came within an inch of its target before being pulled back by Dore who had the top of the creature's head in the palm of his massive hands. "Alright there sweety you might want to look away for this next part" Dore chuckled as he increased his grip on the monster's cranium. A horrible blood churning howl erupted from the creature's maw, it whipped its arm backwards digging its claws into the Beppan's face leaving behind a deep, gory trench. The sudden attack forced Dore to let go of the creature which was now preparing to attack the wounded mercenary.

"Dore!" Weiss' aura flared to life as she rushed the creature. It had just turned around in time to see the young girl's fist slam straight into its face. The monster's front most teeth shattered on impact stunning the creature with the ferocity of the punch. Weiss quickly coiled her tail around the creature's neck applying enough pressure to force the dazed creature's mouth open. Her eyes flashed as she fired her Gorgeous Beam straight into the creature's open maw. The creature shrieked in agony before the blast ripped through the back of its head, once it's screaming was over the Frost Demoness' let it's corpse fall to the ground below.

"Damn I'm not gonna get a chance to do a proper Can-Opener today am I?" Dore chuckled as he made his way over to his petite partner. "Nice work there girly you really showed him, got to remember that move for the future." He smiled as he ruffled the young girl's head playfully.

"Are you ok? You're bleeding a lot" Weiss asked showing genuine concern for the green Beppan. That took him off guard, not too many people save Salza and Neiz ever cared about his wellbeing. Speaking of which Dore could see his two teammates making their way towards them, they must have just finished their own fights as well. "Don't worry about it girly tiss but a flesh wound" Dore chuckled at the worried look on the girl's face.

"What are you two standing around for Lord Cooler still needs help!" Salza had stopped just long enough to scold the pair. Salza quickly took off back for the battle swatting aside a weaker soldier attempting to get in his way.

In truth though Cooler needed no help these fools were annoying and hard to land a hit on but that was it. They were far too weak to be any real danger, while yes this in and out strategy may have succeeded in vanquishing his father, Cooler was of a different caliber. He was a seasoned warrior, he didn't blow through massive stores of energy to dispatch his worthless opponents. Quick, precise and deadly were his three favourite words in combat. Dodging another incoming punch Cooler quickly chopped his assailant in the throat, the force of the impact eliciting a strangled gurgle before the fighter collapsed.

Turning his head to the right he leveled his gaze upon another approaching fighter. That poor fool barely had time to register Cooler's Darkness Eye Beam before it atomized him. Of the two dozen or so red clad warriors that had assaulted him Cooler had vanquished all but five of them. They had barely touched him over the course of the fight, leaving only a few minor scuffs and welts on his skin. But the real damage was done they had distracted him and during that time the ships above had mercilessly ravaged the capital leaving the palace and everything else in charred ruins.

With an angered wave of his hand Cooler vaporised the remaining five warriors in a brilliant flash of purple energy. There were still hundreds of ships in the air, and he could see that despite his forces being almost completely wiped out there were still people down there. Citizens ran to and fro trying to seek out shelter or just plain run for their lives. It was too late for most of the soldiers but as the ruler of this kingdom he would not stand idly by and watch his subjects, his people fall. Frieza had criticized him back when he first arrived about not being there during the first attack, and despite his best efforts to shrug that off it still ate away at him.

These were his people and he would defend them from this barbarism. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his brother and Aayla arriving. "Late as usual brother, well at least I get to show this off to you" Cooler may have been a tad bit jealous of Frieza's new ship, but that was nothing compared to what his brother was about to feel.

Reaching deep down within himself Cooler's power surged he felt the hate towards the GFM as they tore apart his home and it's people and used that to fuel his power. His muscles bulged as he began to grow shouting at the top of his lungs. A few of the warships attempted to fire upon him but the energy being released by the raging demon formed a barrier halting the attacks before they even came close.

Cooler could see the horrified looks upon his enemy's faces as they ran for their lives, their scouters were exploding by the dozens, this brought a hearty laugh to the Frost Demon. His laughter steadily grew deeper as his bio-armour thickened around his chest, forearms and shins. Deep blue bio-gems formed along the bio-armour of his limbs and his arms sprouted small curved spikes. His deltoid covers grew into bows around his shoulders and his tail grew a small piece of armour just at the tip. Cooler's eyes were next to change his red pupils expanding to fill his entire vision into a solid sea of red. The bio-armour around his head expanded as well forming a four pronged crown with the bio-gem in his forehead forming an oval centerpiece.

Looking up at the starships still desperately trying to destroy him a wide grin spread across the Frost Demon's face as a solid bone mask slid over his mouth. With an earthshattering burst of speed Cooler took to the air smashing through the bridge of the nearest ship like it was paper. His new augmented form gave him incredible speed, power and durability and he used all of it acting as a living wrecking ball slamming through ship hulls, obliterating foolish soldiers that thought they stood a chance against him and outracing attack fighters just before he would slam them into the larger ships. The rush of power was invigorating and Cooler couldn't help but laugh the whole time, his voice ringing out across the landscape.

"Woah since when can your brother do that?" Aayla was floating next to Frieza both of them gazing up at the elder Frost Demon as he made mincemeat of the once intimidating invasion fleet. "I got to say that is so cool!" Aayla chimed in excitedly while beside her Frieza grit his teeth in agitation.

Cooler had found a fifth form! When? How? Frieza was completely beside himself he didn't know such a feat was possible yet there he was. Frieza began contemplating his brother's newfound strength, how powerful was he? Without the ability to sense energy and no scouter in existence being capable of reading the power levels being thrown around in this battle Frieza was left clueless and was forced to observe the carnage.

"Hey Frieza can you do something like that?" Aayla's voice snapped the younger Frost Demon out of his contemplation. She was looking at Frieza with a slight tilt to her head trying to get a better view of his face.

"Grrr not yet but if he can do that then so can I" Frieza was trying to keep a cool head but the thought of his brother attaining such a form before Frieza had even heard of it infuriated him. He refused to be left behind, but before he could focus on attaining this new form there was still the matter of the battle.

"Oh man you would look so cool if you could transform like that Frieza!" Weiss voice rang out whipping both Frieza's and Aayla's gaze down to the young Frost Demoness' who had a huge smile on her face as she stared up at her mentor.

"Frieza! You let her fight in this mess!" Aayla was clearly not amused by the young girl's presence.

"No I did not, as a matter of fact I believe my exact words were…" Frieza bent down so he was face to face with the excited young girl. "Stay. With. The. Ship" his eyes narrowed as the young demoness floated backwards slowly, nervously stroking her tail.

"I'm sorry I just wanted to help" she mumbled shying away from the two people she looked up to most. "Plus I haven't really been alone I've been with Salza and the others" she had hoped that might alleviate their worries, unfortunately she was wrong in that regard.

Frieza sighed audibly as he looked back towards his brother's rampage, he was currently busy swinging a destroyer over his head and into a heavy cruiser causing both to crumble and explode on impact. "Very well you can stay but only if you promise to stick by our side" Weiss feverishly shook her head up and down in agreement at her mentor's concession. "Go against my wishes and I will have Nadan down here in a minute to come pick you up" Frieza pointed his finger down at the girl a stern look plastered on his face to show just how serious he was.

Cooler's assault was nothing short of awe-inspiring mixed with a hint of absolutely terrifying, but even then the GFM forces tried their best to stop the rage fueled monster before them. Every soldier, ship and cannon in the attack force across the planet converged on his position they all knew they couldn't hope to win while the Frost Demon was around.

"Come on boys we can't let Lord Cooler have all the fun now can we?" Dore chuckled as his boss atomized several gunships with an intense stare.

"There's so many up there I'm sure he won't mind if we snag a few right?" Neiz's high pitched laugh echoed across the battlefield. Cracking his knuckles he was prepared to head out into the fray when a sharp pain surged through his neck knocking him unconscious instantly.

"What the-" was all Dore could say before a sharp jab knocked him out of the sky. He hit the ground in an awkward heap below, unconscious but otherwise unharmed save for a few scratches.

Salza had just enough time to pull back a punch of his own, looking to go after their assailant when a powerful fist connected with the Brench's gut knocking all the wind out of him. Salza slumped forward incapacitated like his comrades into his assailant's shoulder but instead of just letting him fall the mystery fighter held him on their decent before laying him down gently on the ground by his fallen allies.

"I apologize but it would be best if you would not interfere" Shuyo quickly checked the other two to make sure they weren't too hurt either before taking off towards his first target.

Cooler was being swarmed once again by soldiers attacking from all directions, this time though he just took the hits. Not one soldier was capable of leaving a mark on the juggernaut to the dismay of any soldier brave enough to attack. "I commend you all for your bravery but for attacking my home and people I'm afraid the punishment for that crime is DEATH!" Cooler shouted the last word as a brilliant orange orb of light surrounded him, anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the swirling sphere of hot death were vaporized immediately. After a brief moment the sphere exploded outward sending a volley of blasts in the thousands outwards in all directions but down. Most of the soldiers in the immediate vicinity were cut down by the barrage which continued on its way colliding with every ship in the area. The GFM were foolish enough to pack their ships in such close proximity that Cooler's attack couldn't have missed even if he tried. Ship after ship exploded under the torrent of energy, shields overloaded, hulls breached, fuel cells ruptured. The carnage wrought from the single attack brought the entire GFM fleet down around the Frost Demon who looked on at his handiwork with a self-satisfied nod of approval.

Amidst the chaos and destruction a lone figure caught the Frost Demon's crimson gaze. He was green skinned and wore flowing white robes with a black sash and undershirt. He had a serene look about him despite his surroundings. He wasn't wearing The GFM's armour like the rest of them so perhaps he was an ally, taking the chance Cooler called out to the lone figure "so who might you be?"

The tranquil figure bent down into a fighting position raising both hands up to his face never breaking eye contact with the Frost Demon before him. "My name is Shuyo Lool, I'm afraid you are my adversary and so I must now defeat you."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey guys! If i had to describe this chapter in one word…. Well I can't because I have had balls to the wall fun writing it. A nice healthy mix of both action and character development for just about everyone really. I do have to apologize on the long wait, I had no less than 3 funerals to attend this week which really brought a damper on my mood.**

 **But enough about that let's get into the meat of the story, I wanted to form this bond between Frieza and Weiss early on because I feel that Frieza is at his core such a broken character he needs as many good influences as possible to steer him in the right direction. And yes this chapter was a little light on the Frieza portions but that's because I wanted to try my hand at Cooler for a bit. Now I have tweaked his personality a tad, my version is a quite a bit nobler than the real one which I'm hoping you all approve of. One thing I should note is that Frieza and Cooler are about on par in terms of max power now, Frieza had a natural advantage over Cooler that he needs to have his augmented form to close the gap on. The only reason they haven't come to this realisation is as stated neither can sense what the others are putting out.**

 **I personally adore sci-fi so when I first thought of this battle I just loved picturing characters from DBZ taking part in massive ship battles reaping destruction wherever they went. Some of you may be able to guess where I pulled inspiration for some of the aliens during the battle specifically the creature fighting Weiss and Dore, I'll let you guys figure out what he is though. Also that reminds me I wanted to give Cooler's Armoured Squadron their time in the sun working as a team and taking out some decently powerful opponents I always did like them even if they were short lived.**

 **Well that's enough out of me for one chapter I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did, just checked our view count is now at 3500 that's crazy! I'm so glad my story is reaching so many people you guys have been nothing but great.**

 **As always ask away if you got questions and I'll see you in the next chapter**


	8. Chapter 8 - Fuar Royal Rumble

_"Master, what does it mean to be evil?"_

These words rang through Shuyo's head as he engaged the Frost Demon Cooler. Normally Shuyo would have been far more focused, especially in a fight to the death with such a powerful foe, but something about that memory nagged at him. Why now of all times would such a distracting memory decide to surface? Cooler closed the gap between them landing a powerful knee to Shuyo's gut catching the green warrior off guard and snapping him back to reality.

"Better pay attention or you're going to wind up like all of your little rebel friends" Cooler chuckled to the stoic warrior before him. In truth Cooler was very excited, whoever this guy was he had withstood that knee like it was nothing. Clearly this guy was in a league of his own as similar blows had killed most of the rebel forces. "Perhaps I'll have a worthy adversary to test my new strength on" Cooler lowered himself back into a fighting stance as he said this.

Something's not right here Shuyo thought to himself, he couldn't place his finger on it but there was something eating away in the back of his mind. Shuyo didn't have long to contemplate further as Cooler once again rushed forward throwing a massive punch towards his green foe. Shuyo nimbly ducked to avoid the shot and countered with swift uppercut to the jaw cutting off the Frost Demon's momentum long enough for Shuyo to land a side kick to his ribs.

Instead of being staggered though Cooler pushed through tapping into the well of rage that had been building all battle. He managed to catch the mystery warrior by the face with his enlarged hand and threw him to the ground below. Shuyo had just enough time to slow down and level himself before Cooler was on him once again. He appeared just over Shuyo planting both feet down on his right shoulder sending the monk hurtling down to the ground once more. Shuyo managed to land feet first on the destroyed ground, the impact forming an enormous crater with him at the center.

"He's able to shrug off my attacks, he still feels them but he's able to work through the pain" Shuyo said to himself, cracking his neck to rid himself of some of the stiffness. Suddenly appearing beside him Cooler threw a series of strikes in rapid succession all aimed for a variety of areas on the tall monk's body. Shuyo managed to match the enhanced Frost Demon's speed and was able to dodge or block the incoming barrage.

"Sorry if I caught you monologuing" Cooler chuckled as he pressed his advantage. Shuyo was able to keep up though trading blow for blow across the destroyed landscape. Shuyo's telepathy was the main reason the green warrior was lasting as long as he was, but it was also the reason for the warrior's distracted state. He could feel the emotional spikes in Cooler's mind as he was about to throw another punch or kick acting as an early warning system giving Shuyo just enough time to react. While Shuyo couldn't get any concrete access to his opponent's mind especially during a fight he was able to sense what Cooler was feeling.

In the Frost Demon's case it was rage pure and simple, he was a roaring ball of fury, this was nothing new to the green monk as Shuyo had seen countless people with similar emotional states. But in the case of Cooler it was different, this rage was not malicious or cruel, it was fueled by grief and what Shuyo could only describe as a need to protect. This was what had been taking Shuyo off his guard so badly, from everything he had been told of King Cold's offspring he was led to believe they were nothing more than kill crazy psychopaths. Shuyo ducked to avoid a massive kick and responded with a crisp combination of punches which sent Cooler sprawling to the ground below, giving the green warrior a reprieve to truly grasp this new revelation. Cooler's rage was fueled by the loss of his people and his home he could feel it as clear as day now, the need to protect his people was driving him forward.

 _"Master, what does it mean to be evil?"_

 _"Shuyo my dear boy people who are 'evil' are just those who haven't been given the chance to embrace the good in them. Give anyone the chance and they may just surprise you with what they can do."_

 _"You really believe that master?"_

 _"Sure do my boy, now let's go grab a snack."_

"Those who haven't been given the chance to embrace the good in them" Shuyo repeated those words while floating in the air, was his old master truly right about that? A flash of anger appeared just above Shuyo too close to dodge or bring up his guard, Shuyo had just enough time to look up as Cooler's foot connected with his face sending him through a collapsing building.

"What did I say about monologuing?" Cooler laughed as he dove down into the crater left by Shuyo's impact. Cooler drove both fists into Shuyo's gut eliciting a retch from the warrior monk. Cooler then followed that impact with a massive punch then another and another and so on. Each impact deepening the hole they were in Cooler's fists worked like jackhammers never letting up. If Cooler had his way he would smash this green fool right into the planet's core.

Shuyo's body began to glow with a bright orange light temporarily blinding Cooler before an energy wave blasted him out of the crater. Regaining his composure Cooler looked down to see the green monk rising slowly from the pit body encased in an aura of orange Ki that flickered about him as if they were flames. Finally he's taking this seriously Cooler thought to himself.

Shuyo suddenly disappeared before the Frost Demon's eyes re-appearing barely a fraction of a moment later just under Cooler's guard. Pain shot through Cooler's entire body as the green monk firmly planted his fist in the Frost Demon's abdomen just under the right rib. The impact lifted Cooler higher into the air where Shuyo was already waiting to slam an elbow into the prince's back sending him hurtling into the destroyed ruins of a GFM frigate.

Frieza and the rest of the spectators watched in awe, whoever this monk was he just did more damage to Cooler with a two hit combo than an entire battle fleet. Their stunned silence was soon interrupted by the roar of Cooler as he powered up to 100% power. The resulting explosion of energy vaporized everything with a square mile of the enraged Frost Demon.

"Now it's getting interesting!" Cooler laughed as he flexed his muscles his purple aura flared around him, the rush of power felt exhilarating as did the prospect of facing someone strong enough to test his new found power to its limits. Both Cooler and Shuyo rushed each other at absurd speeds both forces colliding mid-air sending shockwaves across the ruined cityscape. To the observers down below they could just make out the combatants aura's as they clashed miles above. Fiery orange met deep purple as their auras mingled together, Cooler pushed the pace of the fight constantly moving forward utilising his heightened strength and speed to unleash a brutal barrage of punches and kicks. However Cooler's unstoppable assault was met by the immovable object that was Shuyo's defense, utilising his telepathy he was able to block, dodge and when the moment arose counter. He didn't throw nearly as many strikes as his opponent but that was because he didn't need to.

Spinning around Cooler connected his tail with the side of Shuyo's head opening up the monk's seemingly impenetrable defense. Cooler unleashed a quick series of uppercuts all of which connected with Shuyo's jaw as the dazed monk was still trying to regain his equilibrium. Cooler continued his assault slamming a powerful knee into the monk's ribs knocking the wind out of him, and then elbowing Shuyo directly in the back sending him hurtling down into the ruined bridge of a GFA capital ship. Shuyo had just enough time to gather his bearings before Cooler rushed in out of the sky slamming his enormous foot into Shuyo's chest. For a moment time seemed to stand still as Cooler continued to push the pained monk forward with his attack. Finally the bridge gave way and both fighters hurtled onwards neither of them noticing an unconscious Crodan Commander sprawled out on the bridge.

The sounds of battle mixed with the sunlight now shining in his closed eyes jolted Seluba awake. Holding his head he looked around at the destroyed mess that had been Freedom's Hammer's bridge. The last thing he remembered was Cooler kicking one of their frigates into Freedom's Hammer like it was a ball. Looking out at the ruined landscape before him brought on a series of exuberant clicking from Seluba's mandibles. "What a lovely, lovely day" the Crodan chuckled to himself as he walked over to one of the crew's stations. Nudging what was left of a crewmember out of his seat Seluba sat down putting his feet up on the computer monitor. "Might as well enjoy the show while it lasts" the shockwaves of Cooler and Shuyo's battle were like music to the Crodan's ears.

As their fight raged on over the surface of Fuar both Shuyo and Cooler could feel a change in the fight's dynamic, and it brought a lump of dread to the back of Cooler's throat. He was beginning to tire, it was a miniscule amount for the time being but Cooler could feel his stamina begin to decline. It was his own fault Cooler realised he was far too gung ho at first pushing his power to the limit to give it a good test run. Meanwhile Shuyo had expended as little energy as possible his defensive tactics were the perfect matchup against Cooler's relentless assault.

Cooler threw a massive haymaker hoping to connect with something substantial just to do some damage to the warrior monk but once again his opponent nimbly dodged and followed with a crisp combo. As Cooler staggered backwards he was met with a hard knee to the back of the head pushing him forward, Cooler quickly turned around only to have Shuyo directly underneath with a ball of fiery orange Ki held in his hands. The Frost Demon had no time to react and as he looked down at the crouched monk his heart sank as Shuyo pressed both hands forward sending the ball into Cooler's chest. The blast carried Cooler high into the air leaving burns and scorch marks along his body. Tapping into the vast well of pent up rage Cooler managed to punch the ball back to the ground below, blinded by rage Cooler began to quickly gather energy, he was going to end this right here and right now.

Frieza had been watching the fight the entire time not once missing a single moment, though he couldn't sense power levels it was plain to see how this fight was going. Though Cooler had incredible power he was being outmatched by this Shuyo person in almost every other aspect. Cooler was running off of pure emotion not thinking straight and it was making him sloppy, Frieza knew that feeling all too well. So it didn't surprise him that as the battle dragged on Shuyo's calm demeanor and skill began breaking down the rage fueled warrior that was his brother. It was a side to him that Frieza rarely saw, perhaps this augmented form brought out one's aggression, Frieza knew he'd have to look into that later.

It was at that point that Frieza noticed his brother being hurled into the air by a ball of orange Ki. "Well looks like this battle's almost over, guess I'll be stepping up nex-." The rest of Frieza's sentence was cut off as his brother punched the ball of Ki back down. It wasn't his brother's show of strength that cut Frieza off it was the balls trajectory, the fool hadn't aimed the rebound and it was heading straight for a group of civilians hiding in a partially destroyed building. With a burst of speed Frieza rushed over to them reaching the area just in time to catch the ball of energy before it impacted. The ball of energy was incredibly hot to hold more so than a standard Ki blast, so Frieza quickly kicked the ball skyward before it could do any real damage to his hands. The ball detonated a few miles above the surface casting eerie shadows across the battlefield.

"That idiot, he's so amped up he's not thinking straight" Frieza growled to himself not noticing the people behind him. Frieza decided it was time to tell his brother it was his turn now and for Cooler to take a break, clearly he wasn't in full control of his faculties. Suddenly he felt someone tug on his finger, looking down he saw a young Frost Demon child, couldn't have been more than four years old, staring back up at him.

"Thank you sir" he said timidly before his parents rushed over to hug him. Glancing at the frost prince the two of them also nodded their thanks. Their eyes were filled with gratitude but also a hint of fear.

"Try to get to the basement it'll be safer there." With that Frieza took off back into the air slowly at first to avoid kicking up debris towards the traumatized family. Those people had probably lost everything Frieza thought to himself, all because of his family. The only reason this damn war started was because his father insisted on subjugating everything in the galaxy with a pulse. As Frieza took to the air he looked around the destroyed cityscape, changes would have to be made.

There were three people who witnessed Frieza's act of selfless bravery. Both Weiss and Aayla were filled with a sense of pride towards the Frost Demon. It was little acts like that which cemented their belief that he wasn't nearly as bad as everyone, including himself, thought he was. The third observer was Shuyo and what he saw made the fiery monk's blood run cold. Frieza The Emperor of the Universe, The Galactic Overlord, The Destroyer of Worlds had just jumped in front of a small helpless family to protect them. Worst still was that Shuyo could have intercepted the attack before it got anywhere near those people and yet he didn't so much as lift a finger. Shuyo had believed he was a man of virtue one who stood up for those who couldn't do it for themselves and yet here was a prime opportunity to protect the weak and yet the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Instead he watched as a supposed evil dictator jumped in front of potentially lethal Ki blast to save innocent lives. Lives that were only put in danger because of Shuyo himself.

 _"Master, what does it mean to be evil?"_

"People who are 'evil' are just those who haven't been given the chance to embrace the good in them." Shuyo repeated his old master's words once again to himself, was it true? If simply given an adequate chance could Frieza change his ways? Did it already happen and was Shuyo himself the bad guy in this scenario? Considering he was part of an invasion force that had just left most of a major metropolitan city in ruins with an unthinkable number of dead, Shuyo was beginning to realise just who the true villains were. Shuyo was so caught up in his thoughts over Frieza that he failed to notice the gathering of energy occurring just above him until Cooler ignited it. Snapping his head upwards at the sudden surge of energy Shuyo's eyes widened in horror Cooler had formed a Supernova at the tip of his finger and it was ungodly huge. About the size of a small moon it cast an intense orange glow upon the ruined city.

Cooler roared out to the lone monk his voice revealing just how fully consumed by his rage he was "I'M ENDING THIS RIGHT NOW! NOW DIE!" With a deft flick of his finger Cooler sent the ball of fiery death straight towards Shuyo.

At first Shuyo's instincts were to dodge, but he couldn't, that ball had enough power in it to destroy the planet twenty times over. If he didn't stop it he was going to die anyways. Bracing himself Shuyo held his hands up just in time for the Supernova to impact against them, Shuyo pushed his power to the max holding back the attack but he could feel it pushing down into the rubble at his feet. Concrete cracked under the pressure, what few trees that survived the initial bombardment ignited in a fiery conflagration. At this range Shuyo couldn't detonate the attack prematurely it could possibly kill him, on top of that it would do irreversible damage to the planet itself and undoubtedly lead to its destruction. He was stuck trying his best to hold back certain death.

Just as Shuyo felt his arms begin to tire and stamina begin to decline he felt it, an enormous power level slightly stronger than Cooler's own appear beside him. Shuyo could feel the force of the Supernova begin to ease up, this which shocked the monk because he could feel the being beside him, his emotional spectrum was all over the place. Anger, maliciousness, greed, pride, determination, protectiveness and a whole host of other emotional states that came together to form the Frost Demon himself. Looking to the side Shuyo's eyes locked with Frieza's own and in a moment of understanding they both focused their energy unleashing a stream of Ki one orange one purple which together pushed the Supernova back into the sky. The sphere quickly left the atmosphere leaving the gravity well around Fuar. The streams of energy dissipated but they had performed their task, giving the sphere enough momentum to carry itself a few thousand miles away before detonating.

Shuyo could feel the onset of exhaustion as he crouched down to catch his breath. He could feel Frieza's presence right beside him with a worried glance upward his eyes once again locked with Frieza's own. Shuyo realised he couldn't fight both of them at the same time, he had a good feeling he could still beat Cooler but Frieza was a different story. He was an unknown quantity somehow even without the fifth form Frieza was already stronger than Cooler himself, on top of that Shuyo had no way of knowing what his fighting style was like whereas Frieza had just spent the better part of a half hour no doubt analysing every move of the battle.

Shuyo was snapped away from his thoughts by the sudden appearance of Frieza's hand, it wasn't pointing at him with a Death Beam charged, it wasn't extended with palm facing forward with a Ki blast prepared. It was outstretched in the way one would offer a hand shake, which in all honesty unsettled the green monk even more than the other possibilities. Slowly reaching out Shuyo grasped the Frost Demon's hand who quickly lifted him back on his feet.

"Your fight with my brother is over I will be your next opponent, I hope you don't mind but clearly my idiot brother isn't thinking straight." Shuyo was still having trouble processing what was going on before him, was everything he had been told about the brothers a lie? No Shuyo could feel the negative emotions pouring out of Frieza clearly the stories were true about them, however something was different now. "Catch your breath I need to go have a quick chat with Cooler and I'll be right back." With that Frieza began to walk away from Shuyo who could only stare back incredulously, after a few steps the Frost Demon turned his head back to the monk with a small grin on his face. "Thank you for saving my world by the way." Frieza took to the air heading straight towards his brother, giving Shuyo a chance to take in what was happening.

 _"Master, what does it mean to be evil?"_

Cooler was floating in the air by himself looking down at his hands in shock, everything that had just transpired had turned his entire universe upside down. First he had let his anger cloud his judgement and get the better of him which he never used to allow. Second because of that blinding rage he had damn neared destroyed the planet, his home, his kingdom and if not for the timely intervention of the monk and Frieza then he would have succeeded. Thirdly his brother helped an adversary, simply put that very idea was farfetched as Frieza wasn't one for such acts of heroism. It would have one thing to use the monk to stop the Supernova then promptly follow with a Death Beam to the back but no he had helped the monk up and was now on his way over.

Frieza was now floating right in front of his brother whose crimson eyes were wide in shock. Taking a moment Frieza quickly glanced over his brother's appearance, several burns and scorch marks littered his body he was bruised in several places especially the lower ribs. His right eye was starting to swell, there were cracks running along his newly acquired bone mask and he bore several cuts along his body. One gash in particular was bleeding profusely he would need medical attention for sure.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" Frieza's arms were crossed above his chest and he was gently tapping away on his bicep as he awaited his brother's response.

"I-I lost control of myself" Cooler stuttered, he couldn't believe what he had just said. He was the one who was supposed to be the level headed member of the family. "This form brings out my rage, and I let it get the better of me." Cooler was dejected being scolded by his little brother threatened to bring forth the rage once more but he couldn't allow that to happen, not again.

"Will you work on making sure that doesn't happen in the future?" Frieza replied calmly once again staring right back into the crimson seas that were his brother's eyes. The irony of Frieza, of all people, asking Cooler to control his emotional state was not lost on the elder prince. A small nod was all Cooler gave, he didn't trust himself to speak his mind at the moment.

"Wonderful that's all I needed to hear" Frieza then proceeded to raise his arm which had a communicator strapped to it. "Nadan bring the Nemesis down for pickup my brother is unconscious and needs medical assistance."

Cooler was confused by his brother's request, sure he was tired but he was very much still conscious. Before he could open his mouth however Cooler was immediately struck in the gut with a powerful punch and everything faded to black. Frieza quickly grabbed his brother by the tail before he could plummet out of the air "that'll make sure you don't get in my way later, nothing personal." Looking down he was surprised to see Cooler reverting back to his fourth form, it seemed this augmented form wasn't permanent and the user would have to be awake to use it. Taking note Frieza drifted back down to the ground just as the Nemesis touched down and Tukkan exited to take the passed out Cooler aboard.

Frieza had half a mind to throw Weiss in there with them but she would just escape again so that would be a waste of time. Turning to Aayla he gave her a reassuring smile that Cooler would be fine, "Aayla would you mind watching the ship? Just make sure it doesn't get damaged alright." Frieza began to lift off turning back towards where he left Shuyo in the ruins.

"Woah woah woah where do you think you're going?" Aayla looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, tilted head and crossed arms.

"Just going to finish cleaning up my brother's mess" after a brief pause Frieza looked back with a mischievous grin "and maybe have a little fun in the process." Frieza was off once again heading back to Shuyo's location, and there he was the green monk had stayed where Frieza had left him which brought a smile to the Frost Demon's face. This would be his first time he could access his full power in a fight since Namek, Aayla was a fantastic training partner but she wasn't quite ready to handle Frieza at 100% of his power. That's where Shuyo came in he was the perfect candidate to test his new limits. There was also something about him, he wasn't like the rest of those GFM radicals, he was poised, intelligent and even respectful it seemed. Frieza had no intention of killing this one unless given no other choice.

Frieza lightly touched down his three pronged feet resting on what was left of a GFM bomber, he surveyed his opponent with interest. The man seemed no worse for wear after his engagement with Cooler, a few burns and bruises as well as tattered clothes made up most of the damage done. There was a cut just above his left brow but the blood from it was minimal. On the outside he wore the stoic expression he held throughout the entire fight, however Frieza could see in it in his eyes, there was doubt there.

"So, Shuyo was it?" Frieza asked casually cracking his knuckles. Shuyo simply nodded his head in affirmation, not exactly the talkative type oh well Frieza thought to himself. "As you seemed pretty interested in fighting my brother I can only assume you want to fight me as well?" Frieza wasn't expecting an answer so he was mildly shocked to hear the green monk respond.

"That's correct I made a promise that I would overthrow your family, but…" Shuyo trailed off peaking the Frost Demon's interest. So there was some doubt in him, but about what? He didn't seem the type to be afraid of a powerful foe. Then again Frieza didn't really know him so making a judgement call like that could be considered a bit premature.

"Well if you made a promise you better stick to it right?" Frieza grinned at the monk before continuing "However I should let you know there is an opening in my crew if you're interested." That seemed to get Shuyo's attention, the monk seemed like he couldn't believe what he was hearing so Frieza felt the need to clarify. "The options open for you if you want, but first we have a little fight to get underway."

With that Frieza began roaring at the top of his lungs, the Frost Demon's aura ignited in a spectacular display or rippling purple energy he could feel his power skyrocket. Training hard for over a year now had drastically strengthened the already formidable Frost Demon. One of the first things Frieza had worked on was muscle mass, one of his biggest downfalls back on Namek was that his increased muscle mass at 100% had slowed him down considerably. But after months of hard work Frieza could now reach 100% with only a minimal increase in his musculature ensuring a deadly mix of speed and power. Looking down towards his foe Frieza smirked at the surprised look he had, that was always a good sign.

"I believe it's your turn now" Frieza chuckled softly snapping Shuyo back to attention.

Shuyo would have liked more time to re-evaluate his current situation but it didn't seem like the Frost Demon was going to give him such a chance. So without further ado Shuyo pushed his power to his own max he could already sense he would need to be on top form to take on Frieza with any hope of victory. After a few seconds of intense concentration Shuyo felt his power plateau, orange Ki emanated from him like a crackling fire. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Shuyo looked up at Frieza once again before nodding his head in acknowledgment. Both super beings disappeared in a blink, both re-appearing overhead trading blows at an unbelievable speed.

Frieza was a completely different story than his brother, where Cooler was a relentless, rage fueled barrage, Frieza was unorthodox, calm precision made flesh. Even with his telepathy giving him a general idea of how Frieza was feeling, Shuyo was finding it difficult to counter. Shuyo was being pressed back quickly, Frieza was attacking from every angle and it was beginning to overwhelm the monk already. The green monk could feel the strain on his muscles from his prior bout with Cooler, this was not going to be easy for him.

Shuyo ducked an incoming Ki blast from the Frost Demon before dashing forward looking for an opening. Appearing just behind Frieza he threw a punch at the back of the Frost Demon's head, at the last possible moment however Frieza tilted his head to the side. Shuyo's punch sailed past Frieza leaving him wide open as Frieza's tail coiled around his neck. A quick squeeze cut off the monk's airflow before Frieza spun himself around hurling Shuyo through a collapsed building. Shuyo was greeted on the other end by a grinning Frieza who quickly slammed his foot right into Shuyo's face sending him careening to the ground below.

Frieza gazed upon the downed monk a small scowl on his face, perhaps he was pushing too hard. Shuyo did just fight his brother and most likely sustained some damage, that Supernova definitely seemed to take a lot out of him. Just as Frieza was trying to determine how to proceed Shuyo suddenly vanished, he quickly reappeared beside Frieza slamming a powerful fist into the Frost Demon's jaw. Taken completely by surprise Frieza barely had time to right himself before Shuyo was on him again. Frieza had watched his entire fight with Cooler and from beginning to end he fought defensively, dodges, blocks and counters picked his brother apart. This is exactly what he had expected from the green monk and yet he had just adapted his style to counter Frieza's more unorthodox repertoire of moves.

Shuyo was now the one pushing forward throwing a heavy barrage of punches and kicks, at first Frieza was taken aback but he soon found his rhythm in the fight swaying his head from side to side avoid strikes all the while his signature smirk was plastered on his face. Shuyo unleashed a trio of kicks towards Frieza the first two the Frost Demon easily dodged with his superior head movement the third however was aimed directly for his chest. Rather than move out of the way Frieza wrapped his tail around Shuyo's leg yanking him directly into the path of a spinning back elbow. The impact opened a cut along Shuyo's forehead but he kept pushing forward firing a Ki blast point blank into Frieza's face. Frieza managed to withstand the blast but Shuyo followed with a powerful kick to the side of his head dazing the Frost Demon.

Shuyo followed up with a barrage of punches to Frieza's gut knocking phlegm out of the prince's mouth before following with a snap kick straight to the jaw sending Frieza hurtling up into the air. Frieza was quick to readjust charging straight towards Shuyo with both hands held in front of him. At the last moment Shuyo spun out of the way of the impact but Frieza had been prepared for such a maneuver. As he passed the monk Frieza's tail reached out grasping Shuyo by the ankle and pulled him down along with him. Just before he would have impacted the ground Frieza performed a front flip spinning Shuyo over his head and slamming him face first into the rocky terrain. Frieza then followed up with a powerful punch to straight to the back eliciting a pained growl from the green monk.

An explosive wave of Ki was released from Shuyo's body knocking his adversary back several feet, giving him time to spin around and fire a pair of orange Ki blasts from both hands. Frieza easily swatted the blasts away but was met with a kick to the jaw snapping his head up. Frieza pushed his head forward in a powerful headbutt that rocked Shuyo, following that Frieza front flipped again this time smashing his tail across Shuyo's dazed face sending him careening back down to the ground. Just as Shuyo slammed into the ground Frieza crashed down on his back with both feet a fraction of a second later.

Gritting through the pain Shuyo rocketed forward out from under the Frost Demon's feet and into a destroyed building. Frieza looked around trying to pick up his opponent with his hearing, he wasn't fast enough though as Shuyo made his first move. Shuyo popped out of the ruble directly behind Frieza in a spray of concrete. The stoic warrior quickly landed roundhouse kick to the side of Frieza's unsuspecting head. The blow staggered him and as Frieza turned around to confront his adversary he could see he had already dived back into the ground. Frieza was expecting yet another attack from behind so he was not prepared for the monk to appear right in front of him, Shuyo managed to land a brutal knee straight to the shorter fighter's ribs before diving back down. Frieza heard a shifting of ruble to his right spinning around with a Ki blast at the ready, he was shocked as Shuyo exploded out of the ruble on his left landing a crisp jab into the Frost Demon's jaw before continuing on to his right and back into the ground.

It was the like the universes most annoying and painful game of whack-a-mole ever. Rising into the air Frieza brought his guard up and began rotating at a higher elevation he should have enough time to react to Shuyo's surprise attacks. Unbeknownst to Frieza he had left one part of him unguarded, Shuyo's hand shot out of the ruble grasping Frieza's long tail which had been hovering just above the surface. With a powerful yank Shuyo pulled the shocked Frost Demon down into the ground with him. A series of rumblings shook the ground as the two did battle in the catacombs of the destroyed city before a solid stream of orange Ki burst from the ground carrying Frieza with it.

"Well enough of this nonsense" Frieza exclaimed as he lifted a finger into the air. A compact ball of purple and black energy formed at the tip of his finger before he hurled it down into the ground. Frieza detonated the Death Ball just after impact and the resulting explosion turned the surrounding area into a smouldering crater. Down in the basin Shuyo stood with arms crossed over his face in a defensive manner, he had not expected the attack and was left wounded with several scorch marks running along his body, his robes were almost burned away with only his pants and a loose bit of cloth dangling from his shoulder.

Though he didn't want to admit Shuyo realised he couldn't keep going not against Frieza. The wear and tear he sustained in his fight with Cooler mixed with the mental battle he had been going through and left Shuyo incredibly drained. He still couldn't wrap his head around the two siblings, they were supposed to be the villains and yet all he had witnessed were them saving the lives of their subjects and grieving over those they could not save. It didn't make sense had he been lied to? He needed time to formulate his own opinions something he should have done from the beginning instead of blindly following that treacherous cockroach.

As if on cue a slow methodical clapping rang across the war torn landscape catching both combatants attention. Walking slowly towards them was the leader of the Galactic Freedom Movement, his red armour shining in the afternoon light. Seluba continued clapping until he came to a halt standing beside the still unconscious bodies of Salza, Neiz and Dore.

"Wonderful job Shuyo the both of you put on quite a show, but I will take things from here, Frieza will die by my hands." Seluba was staring at both fighters with malicious glee in his eyes, this was his moment years of preparation and hardship coming together at this point in time.

"I'm sorry did you just say you I was going to die by your hands?" Frieza scoffed at the new challenger. "Sorry to burst your bubble but there isn't anyone in this universe who can kill me. So why don't you scurry back into the dirt like a good little bug" Frieza chuckled at the serious expression that now adorned the Crodan's face.

"Listen to him Seluba, you're no match for him let me continue" Shuyo tried to reason with the angered Crodan to no avail. While yes Shuyo did not like Seluba, in fact he was pretty sure he hated the roach, Shuyo couldn't, in good conscious, let anyone get themselves killed by an angered space tyrant.

"Seluba…" Frieza repeated solemnly as he gazed towards the Crodan, this gathered everyone's attention as Frieza began to work things out in his head. "You mean to tell me this flea, is THE Seluba, leader of the GFM?" A short nod of confirmation from Shuyo was all it took to bring Frieza's blood to a boil. "This gnat is the one responsible for this entire attack?" Frieza was deadly calm as he stared down the now smirking Crodan.

"That's right 'Lord' Frieza it was me, but I haven't quite finished yet, after I beat you to a bloody pulp I will turn this entire rock you call a home into a fire pit." Seluba's smirk grew to a malicious smile "and then when Fuar is ashes, then you have my permission to die." With that Seluba lifted his arm and pressed down on the activator embedded within it. The effects were almost instantaneous, as the mutagens raced through the Crodan's body he could feel his power soar to unbelievable levels. But the changes didn't stop with just his power his skin cracked and for the first time since his teenage years Seluba moulted. The old skin fell to the ground in a revolting pile as the Crodan's body continued to stretch and warp. His arms doubled in length and were now rippling with powerful muscles, a pair of smaller arms burst from either side of Seluba's thorax clawing and grasping at air around them as if they had a mind of their own. His mandibles grew to the size of kitchen knives slashing at the air as his metamorphosis continued.

Out of everything that he was feeling Seluba felt the pain more than anything. From the moment he pressed that button his body cried out in protest as the mutagens within restructured his body in a way nature never intended. But Seluba never made a sound despite the pain of being turned inside out he grit his teeth and endured the pain and when the agony finally abated Seluba stood tall and basked in the sunlight that greeted his new body.

Seluba now stood over eight feet tall, his once dull brown carapace was now an inky black, he was a living void. His muscles rippled across his body even the slightest movement showed off his unbelievable musculature. However it was his eyes that shocked Shuyo the most, they were bright red the exact same shade of the Frost Demon's he hated so much the resemblance to Cooler's own eyes was uncanny.

Seluba could now feel the vast stores of energy swelling within him, that doctor had seriously low balled his estimated power. His power now dwarfed Frieza in every possible way, he was death incarnate and he would have his vengeance upon the Frost Demon. Flexing his fingers, Seluba pointed his newfound hand down towards the unconscious forms of Neiz, Dore and Salza. Shuyo cried out for Seluba to stop but it was too late as a massive silver energy waved was released from the deranged Crodan's hand, vaporizing Cooler's Armoured Squadron in the blink of an eye. "Hmmm not bad, not bad at all" he chuckled to himself his voice now a deep, gravely baritone.

Shuyo stood there shocked at what he had just witnessed, the trio were completely unable to defend themselves because of him and they had been put down like animals. Guilt swirled through the green monk's mind their deaths were on him he was responsible for incapacitating them in the first place. As Shuyo was trying to make sense of the situation he felt an enormous spike of rage, hatred and grief emanate from their left.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" Weiss charged at Seluba tears flowing from her light blue eyes, her emerald aura was a torrent of energy around her as she sped towards her target. Salza, Dore and Neiz had become her friends and that monster had killed, Weiss would make him pay for it with his life. She could just barely hear Frieza, Aayla and Shuyo calling out for her to stop but she couldn't, she wouldn't. Charging up her strongest attack she let loose an opening volley of small Ki blasts to cover her approach, the thrusting both hands forward side by side she screamed at the top of her lungs. "GLEAMING DEATH!" a colossal green energy wave fired from both hands impacting the still smiling Seluba head on. The resulting explosion shook the very planet itself and kicked a massive cloud of debris into the air. Weiss had put everything she had into that one attack and was now feeling exhausted.

"Nice try" Weiss' eyes widened in horror as Seluba stepped out of the swirling dust cloud without even a scuff mark on him. Closing the distance between them in a heartbeat Seluba backhanded the young Frost Demoness away from him. She skipped off the ground like a stone before finally coming to rest in a broken heap. She was alive but only just, that one hit had broken countless bones across her body and it took all her strength not to cry out in agony. Chuckling to himself Seluba turned his attention back to his prize "now I hope you can do better than that Frieza."

Frieza's purple aura flared in a maelstrom of energy rocks rose from the ground around him only to explode under the energy being released. Shuyo didn't need telepathy to know how Frieza felt, he could see it on his face. The Frost Demon's visage had morphed into a mask of pure rage and hatred "you will pay for that with your life." Frieza felt his power being fueled on by his fury he would use this enhanced power to vanquish this repulsive bug for everything he had done, striking Weiss had been the final straw.

Frieza was not alone however Aayla had watched on as the little girl she cared for so deeply was struck down by that monster. Nadan was already rushing over to the Weiss' body if there was anyone who could take care of her it was him. Just as Frieza powered himself up Aayla followed suit and unleashed her full power. Her crimson aura was a frenzied cyclone matching her emotional state.

Seluba cackled manically as he looked back and forth between the two warriors. "Well come on I don't have all day let's get this over with!" Seluba held all four arms out in welcomed greeting as both Aayla and Frieza charged from opposite ends of the battlefield to confront the sadistic monster that had formed from the once kind-hearted Seluba of Planet Crodan.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Alright that's part 2 of the Battle for Fuar done, we'll be getting back warping up the whole thing in the next chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter but it was somewhat difficult in that I had to try and find a healthy mix between action, story and character development.**

 **One of the things I really wanted to touch on was that Shuyo isn't perfect he has a lot of self-doubt especially when confronted with both Cooler and Frieza who are beginning to change their ways. I also wanted to give a brief glimpse into Shuyo's past, this will be touched on in later chapters**

 **So I always believed Cooler's fifth form basically made him about as strong as 50% Frieza back on Namek. Because as we see in the movie the moment Goku goes Super Saiyan he curb stomps Cooler like he's nothing, whereas on Namek Frieza was still sort of holding his own before going to 100% where he made the fight far more even. I basically see a continuation of this trend in this story.**

 **Yes I have a Dark Knight Rises reference in the story in fact as I was writing Seluba's entire transformation I couldn't help but realise I was essentially designing Bane as a space bug and I just had to roll with it.**

 **Can't think of anything else to say at the moment but as always if you have any inquiries ask away I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have.**

 **Really hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, stay tuned for the next part you guys have been great.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Victory?

"ZETA SLASH!" Aayla yelled out unleashing a barrage of deadly crimson blades all of which streaked through the sky towards the charging Crodan. Seluba laughed sadistically as the stream of energy blades impacted against his hardened carapace. The results were negligible as all of them either bounced right off or shattered on impact, much to the azure beauty's shock. Aayla barely had enough time to register how close the mutated bug man had gotten before he was already on top of her.

Seluba's massive right arm shot out to grab Aayla by the neck, a quick throttle and the cute blue girl would be out of his way. However just before his fingers could close around the Securan's throat she was yanked away from his grasp with a startled yelp. Frieza had acted quickly securing his tail around Aayla's leg and pulling her down to safety at the last moment. Seluba glared downwards towards his prey, his wicked grin never leaving his face.

Not wasting anytime Frieza pointed his finger upwards firing a Full Powered Death Beam directly into his adversary's face. Seluba's entire head vanished in the cloud of smoke produced by the attack, Frieza was preparing to fire another fully charged beam, this one aimed for the Crodan's heart. Before he could fire however a silver light shining through the cloud caught his attention. Whipping his tail to the side he threw Aayla away just as an intense energy wave was released from Seluba's open maw. The blast slammed into Frieza sending him crashing down into the wreckage of Freedom's Hammer which exploded upon impact.

Before Seluba could stop to enjoy the Frost Demon's explosion, Aayla had already jumped back into the fight unleashing a flurry of punches. All of them landing harmlessly against the Crodan's hardened exterior.

"You're gonna have to do a lot better than that" Seluba chuckled as he reached out to grab the Securan warrior.

Ducking under his arm at the last moment Aayla pushed off the Crodan's bulging chest with both feet, the separation gave her the distance she needed. Aayla quickly charged Ki into both of her arms before slamming her fists together. Her aura flared as her fists collided, a small smirk crossed her face, one she had picked up from her favourite megalomaniacal Frost Demon.

"Let's see if this is better" as Aayla thrust her right fist forward she shouted "GiGA CANNON!" A powerful orb of energy was released from her fist. The blast slammed into Seluba's chest knocking the mutated Crodan back several feet. Seluba simply smiled at the Securan warrior, who smiled right back as she retracted her right arm and thrust out her left. "BARRAGE!" A second ball of crimson energy was fired from her left hand, and the moment it was released she pulled her arm back and thrust forward with her right with the same effect. She continued this pattern until her arms were a blur, firing her signature Giga Cannon at an ungodly speed. The surprising force behind each individual attack paired with the sheer volume of Aayla's output caught Seluba off guard and he was quickly knocked out of air. Aayla didn't let up however pouring shot after shot into her target with deadly accuracy.

Just as Seluba hit the ground he was immediately engulfed once more in the barrage from the enraged Securan. Realising he couldn't keep taking this level of punishment Seluba brought up an energy barrier to defend against the incoming assault. The temporary cover gave the Crodan a chance to prepare his counter attack against Frieza's annoying pet.

"Surprise" was all Seluba could hear before a brilliant beam of purple energy ripped a hole through the Crodan's mid-section. Frieza's Death Cannon had almost torn Seluba in half, Aayla's distraction had worked perfectly giving Frieza plenty of time to get into a decent position for the sneak attack.

Seluba turned around violently, he was frothing at the mouth and every vein in his body looked like it was about to burst. "Look what you've done to me you son of a-" Seluba was cut off as Frieza rushed upwards to the taller opponent and kneed him in what was left of his gut before following with a powerful punch that sent the Crodan sailing into the sky.

Waiting patiently a mile above with both hands clenched together in front of her chest was Aayla, she had watched the entire confrontation down below and was ready to get back into the fight. Separating both hands a foot apart from each other a crackling orb of crimson energy formed just in time as Seluba began to slow his assent.

"THETA CRUSH!" Thrusting both hands outward the orb erupted forward into a gigantic stream of rippling energy. Seluba was too busy clutching his side to notice the incoming blast until it was too late. The stream of powerful energy slammed into the Crodan and sent him back down to the ground, all the while attempting to overwhelm and vaporize its target.

Back down on the ground below Frieza had a charged Death Ball waiting and just as his target got within range Frieza hurled the lethal projectile with vicious glee. The Theta Crush and Death Ball collided together with Seluba in the middle, the resulting explosion could be felt across the planet shattering windows in cities thousands of miles away. Frieza could just make out a blackened body plummet back to the ground slamming down with a thunderous crash.

Aayla landed deftly beside her partner both with similar expressions, despite their best hopes this wasn't over just yet. Without saying a word to each other they both dropped into combat stances preparing for Seluba to make his move. After thousands of hours of training together Aayla and Frieza had developed a mental link, they could feel each other's thoughts and in a combat scenario like this they formed a deadly pair.

As the smoke cleared the hulking figure of Seluba stumbled out of the crater clutching his side in pain. He glanced down at himself and after a moment began to laugh hysterically. Turning his gaze downwards to see what the Crodan thought was so funny Frieza's eyes widened in shock upon looking at his opponent's torso. The hole his Death Cannon had formed was gone! The hole had closed itself and Seluba's exoskeleton was already forming around the new flesh. Frieza could tell that this wasn't anything like Namekian regeneration, the Namek's regeneration was smooth, completely replacing lost tissue to its former glory. After the brief glimpse of Seluba's new flesh only one word could come to Frieza's mind, cancerous. The new muscle and skin formed was a silky colour and bulged unnaturally as if it were about to burst.

"This is incredible! I am INVINCIBLE!" Seluba threw all four arms upwards laughing at his own seemingly indestructible form. With a sudden gleam in his eyes Seluba rushed towards his two opponents with incredible speed. Seeing him coming both Aayla and Frieza tried to separate but the mutant Crodan was just slightly too fast for them. Frieza dodged high while Aayla ducked low but Seluba managed to snag both of them grasping Frieza by the ankle with his larger right arm and Aayla by her head-tail with his smaller left.

Seluba whipped Frieza by the ankle into the ground, the impact of which shook the terrain for miles around. Lifting him back up by his ankle Seluba followed up with a powerful side kick to the small of the Frost Demon's back sending him hurtling into the distance. Raising his larger right arm Seluba fired off three silvery orbs of Ki each of which tracked Frieza before finding their target and detonating in a colossal explosion.

While he was dealing with Frieza he was simultaneously attacking Aayla as well, even though his new limbs were barely a minute old he was already showing amazing dexterity with them. Seluba yank Aayla off her feet by her head-tail eliciting a pained cry from the Securan warrior. While Aayla was still horizontal from the vicious tug Seluba followed up with a powerful downward punch with his massive left arm right into the azure beauty's stomach. The force of the blow caused Aayla to retch, a burst of blood spewing from her mouth. Seluba continued his assault grabbing Aayla by the face with his enormous hand and slamming her down repeatedly all the while laughing with malicious glee.

Through a gap in the Crodan's fingers Aayla spotted her target charging up her Ki she fired a beam of crimson energy from her one exposed eye. The beam went straight up and slammed into Seluba's left eye, Seluba's laughing quickly turned to pained screams as he held his the side of his face in agony.

'Aayla pull back I'll take over while you catch your breath' Frieza's voice was clear as crystal inside the Securan's mind. She could already see his purple aura closing in on them, with a smirk she replied back mentally.

'Ugly's all yours, I blinded his left eye, not sure how long that'll last but for now it's a blind spot' Aayla reported back to Frieza as she retreated.

'Splendid' was Frieza's response as he appeared at the Crodan's side planting a powerful fist into the left side of Seluba's face. The unexpected blow staggered the mutated giant who quickly turned around with fire in his eyes.

"Attacking a man's blind spot why would I think anything else of you Frieza" Seluba growled at the Frost Demon as he charged forward. All four of the Crodan's arms firing like jackhammers doing their best to connect with the nimble Frieza.

"Clearly you don't know much about me then" Frieza chided as he dodged and ducked the storm of fists. Seeing an opening Frieza dropped back to the ground slamming his foot down onto Seluba's brittle looking kneecap. The resulting howl was music to the Frost Demon's ears, he didn't have much time to enjoy it however as Seluba redoubled his efforts and charged forwards, all the while frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal.

* * *

Shuyo had never before felt so utterly useless, he failed in his promise to overthrow the Cold family. He had taken part in a horrific battle that had already led to the deaths of thousands. He had personally incapacitated three of Fuar's defenders only for them to be mercilessly killed by the one who dragged him into this conflict. And to top it all off he was now too divided to make a choice of what to do next. All he could do was stand at the edge of the crater Frieza, Aayla and Seluba had left him in and watch as the battle raged on.

Shuyo knew whichever side he chose would most likely be victorious in the battle but who could he choose? On the one hand there was Seluba whose goal was to free the galaxy from the tyranny of the Cold family. However it was obvious that the Crodan had become the very thing he despised so much. It didn't help that Shuyo could feel the bloodlust and rage emanating from the mutated bug, Seluba's emptions put a horrible feeling in the green monk's stomach.

Then there was Frieza the Emperor of the Universe, a being with a kill count in the billions possibly trillions, who had obliterated countless worlds and whose very name brought dread in even the most courageous beings. Yet here was the Galactic Overlord himself defending his home, protecting innocent lives and showing respect to Shuyo himself. Just like Seluba Frieza was also being driven by rage but his rage stemmed from his desire to protect and avenge his people.

This was the conundrum that plagued the distraught monk. Did he help overthrow a dictator and watch as Seluba wiped out the entire planet and everyone on it? Or did he side with a mass murderer and save an entire planet but possibly subject the galaxy to his now uncontested tyranny?

 _"Master, what does it mean to be evil?"_

Squeezing his hand tightly a bead of sweat rolled Shuyo's forehead as he stared down the clashing warriors. "Master if you're watching me right now please give me the strength I need for this path I have selected" Shuyo paused as he gulped "and forgive me if I have chosen poorly."

* * *

Frieza had been fighting for what felt like an eternity, the bug never slowed his assault and was pushing the frost prince to his limits. Seriously how long had this fight been going on for? Frieza thought to himself as he blocked a straight right with his bicep.

'Just about two minutes now I think' Aayla responded in Frieza's head. The revelation shocked Frieza so much that he temporarily let his guard down. Seluba seeing this immediately took advantage connecting with a left hook to the gut and a spinning backfist to the back of the head sending the Frost Demon hurtling towards the ground.

Just before impact Frieza was able to slow his decent enough to make a soft landing on his feet. 'TWO MINUTES! HOW THE HELL HAS IT ONLY BEEN TWO MINUTES? THAT MAKES NO DAMN SENSE!' Frieza screamed back mentally from his position on the ground. It was at that moment that Aayla returned leaving behind a blurred streak of crimson Ki in her wake.

'No idea but would you mind getting back up here roach face is getting way too grabby' Aayla may have been speaking in a joking manner but he could detect the stress in her voice. Looking up Frieza could see what she meant, Seluba had her in a bear hug with his two massive arms, all the while his two smaller arms pummeled away at her now exposed midsection.

Frieza took off into the air once again looking to free his trapped partner, spotting an opportunity Frieza doubled his speed becoming a streak of purple light. With both arms outstretched Frieza impacted against Seluba's own exposed torso, specifically where he had blasted a hole earlier. The resulting impact shattered the weakened chitin revealing the tumorous flesh beneath it.

In response to Frieza's attack Seluba squeezed down harder, Aayla's pained scream rang across the battlefield. Acting quickly Frieza shoved his finger into the exposed flesh and began unleashing a volley of Death Beams at point blank range. Each of the beams cut a path through Seluba's torso before blasting their way out of his back causing the mutated Crodan to shriek in pain.

Just as it felt like Aayla's ribs were going to shatter, Seluba let go of her as he began to turn his attention back to Frieza but not before his lower arms unleashed a powerful ball of silver Ki into Aayla's chest. The sphere pressed against the wounded Securan carrying her away from the duo before detonating in a spectacular flash. Aayla's injured form fell from the sky, she had several burns across her body, she was heavily bruised around her ribs and she had cuts running along her body, some of which were bleeding profusely. However none of that mattered to the azure warrior, that ugly bastard had hurt Weiss and so many others Aayla wasn't about to give up on this fight.

Frieza attacked with renewed vigor once again looking to exploit Seluba's now obvious weak spot. However that would be easier said than done as it seemed his lower right arm was now delegated to solely guarding that weakened area. Frieza charged forward slamming a powerful fist into Seluba's face, the impact of which broke off one of his oversized mandibles.

"YOU WILL SUFFER FOR THAT!" the deranged bug roared as he reached forward grabbing Frieza by the face. The Frost Demon had no time to react before Seluba used one of his smaller arms to grasp Frieza's unprotected leg. Lifting Frieza over his head Seluba cackled "I WILL BREAK YOU!" before bringing Frieza's trapped form down on the mutant's waiting knee. The sound of the impact was matched only by the muffled screams of the Frost Demon as he felt his spine begin to compress under the intense strain.

Frieza tried to fire a Ki blast from his eyes as Aayla had before him but Seluba was ready and easily moved his head out of the way all the while doing his best to fold Frieza across his knee. "Remember how I said you would get to watch me wipe out your worthless race?" Seluba taunted the immobilized Frost Demon. Seluba lifted his other large arm over his head in a fist and from his closed hand a bright spear of crackling Ki energy formed. He angled the spear downward aiming right for his prey's heart, with a huge smile plastered over his face Seluba exclaimed "WELL I LIED, I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL!"

Before Seluba could thrust his spear downward a fiery blade of orange Ki came out of nowhere slicing completely through the unsuspecting Crodan's hand. A moment passed before the silver Ki spear flickered and died followed by Seluba's monstrous hand sliding off his wrist and falling to the ground below. While still grasping Frieza in his arms Seluba angrily roared to the heavens "WHO THE HELL DID THAT?!"

Seluba's answer came in the form of a powerful kick to the side of the head causing him to release Frieza who quickly made distance from the enraged bug. As Seluba's eyes focused on his attacker they widened in a mixture of both fear and uncontrollable rage "YOU!"

"Yes, me" Shuyo simply replied, he had now discarded most of his ruined clothing now wearing only his flowing white pants. Taking a deep breath the stoic monk sank into his fighting stance preparing to battle the one who had brought him into this conflict in the first place.

"You would betray me and the entire galaxy? How can you join with a monster like Frieza?" Seluba was furious once again he was frothing at the mouth his eyes were two pools of garnet hate.

Shuyo could sense that his power was continuing to rise but he could also feel the intense pain coming from his former boss. Whatever he had done to himself, it was giving him unbelievable power but at the cost of his own wellbeing. "Right now you're the only monster here, you've become what you hate so much, like so many before you."

The solemn look on Shuyo's face ignited Seluba's anger and he began powering up even further. The ground shook and pain coursed through his body but none of that mattered as long as Frieza and that traitor lay dead at his feet Seluba would take whatever pain he needed to. Reaching his full power his silver aura began mixing with thin red trails emanating from his body, Seluba would believe that it was simply a part of him reaching his new full power and to an extent he was partially correct. Those lines were directly caused by his new found power, however the streams of red were not excess Ki trying to escape his body, they were his own blood. His very blood itself was literally boiling in his veins and arteries and the resulting mist was his evaporated blood escaping through his pores.

Aayla now touched down beside both Frieza and Shuyo both of whom were facing the rage fueled Seluba. "So we're teaming up with big green now? That's cool" Aayla chimed in as she prepped herself for the coming attack.

With a deafening roar Seluba charged forward at a ridiculous speed, despite it being three on one Seluba was still able to push the three warriors back. He fought like a wild animal punching, kicking, slashing, tearing and blasting anything that got within range. Even with one of his hands missing he still used the arm itself as a club to smash through his opponents defenses.

The strain from his previous battles was apparent on Shuyo as he had increasing difficulty dodging and blocking Seluba's assault. Attacking from behind he was met with a vicious blow as Seluba spun around slamming his severed forearm into Shuyo's shoulder. Shuyo could feel the pop as his shoulder dislocated from the impact. With his momentum gone and his right arm useless for the time being he was a sitting duck as Shuyo prepared a silver Ki spear in his hand. Seluba threw the attack with the intention of skewering the monk's heart. Just before impact however Aayla appeared beside Shuyo, shoulder checking her temporary ally out of harm's way. The spear still made contact however as it sliced open Aayla's exposed arm as she pushed Shuyo to safety.

"You ok?" Aayla asked Shuyo who nodded in shock, he still couldn't fully grasp how Frieza was behaving and it seemed that feeling extended to anyone who worked alongside the tyrant. "Good hang back a bit, your arm looks pretty busted up" she quickly took off back towards Seluba who was now smashing Frieza with a flurry of punches into the ground.

"Is that the best you got Frieza?!" Seluba laughed as he pummeled his adversary into the dirt. Seluba was then interrupted with a small Ki blast glancing off his enormous shoulder, looking up at his attacker he was met with Aayla's foot slamming directly in Seluba's already wounded left eye. The mutated bug was thrown several feet and was once again clutching his face in agony.

"MY EYE WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE GOD DAMN EYE?!" Seluba howled as Aayla helped Frieza to his feet. As the red mist coming off of Seluba's body thickened he began scanning around the battlefield for his target where was it, where was it? His good eye finally located his new goal and with a sadistic smirk he took to the air in a burst of speed.

* * *

Nadan was doing his best to stabilize Weiss but there was only so much he could do for her in the middle of a warzone. It would have been easier to count her bones that weren't shattered, and she no doubt had internal bleeding. Judging by the way she was breathing she may have even punctured a lung, all of these things were very treatable if only he could get the child on the ship. The problem was she was such a broken mess moving her could do more harm than good.

While he continued to administer treatment Nadan's own heart almost stopped when Weiss' vitals suddenly flat lined. "No no no you stay with me Weiss, come on don't you dare do this." Nadan worked frantically applying an emergency bacta injection that immediately made its way through the young girl's system repairing some of the damage done. Weiss' eyes snapped open as she gasped for air, seeing the girl alive flooded the Malakan with a surge of relief.

"Thank goodness you're alive, Lord Frieza would have had my head otherwise" Nadan chuckled as he rescanned Weiss' vitals.

"H-he wouldn't… Ow… Do that to you N-Nadan" despite the pain radiating across her body Weiss, as determined as ever, still managed to get out a few words. Her tenacity always brought a smile to the Malakan scientist.

"Probably not but I'd rather not take the chance" replied Nadan as he picked up the latest scans on Weiss' condition. Frost Demons were hardy and could survive things that, logically, no organic life form could or should. But the readings Nadan was getting were going from bad to worse to terrible by the second. She needed a full bacta tank immediately, which meant she needed to get on the ship, which meant having to move her.

Looking down at the prone form of the Demoness Nadan decided to let her know ahead of time. "Weiss I need to get you to The Nemesis now otherwise I may not be able to save you." Nadan paused making sure the injured youth was paying attention, "but lifting you onto a gurney is going to hurt a lot."

Weiss simply stared back and nodded as much as her fractured collarbone would allow. "It's my fault I'm like this" another pause as tears began to well up in her eyes "I should have listened to Frieza."

"You did what you thought was best don't beat yourself up about it, I'm calling over the gurney now." Nadan quickly tapped out a series of commands before a floating rectangular, cushioned platform shot out of the hatch of The Nemesis and began making its way towards the duo. Looking back down to his patient he smiled trying his best to reassure her "just a few more seconds and I'll get you aboard the ship and get you properly treat-" Nadan's words were cut off as he looked up in horror as a gigantic wave of silver Ki streaked towards the pair.

* * *

Frieza and Aayla both took off after Seluba as he rose into the air, both knew the malicious bug was capable of anything so they needed to act fast. As Seluba reached his peak Frieza and Aayla jumped into action, attacking their opponent from both sides. Seluba had been hoping they would do that and with lightning quick reflexes reached out with his mutilated arm wrapping it around Aayla and pulling her into yet another rib cracking hug. Frieza fared no better as Seluba's other arm shot out grabbing the Frost Demon by the neck pulling him into a similar position to his partner.

Seluba laughed at his opponents struggles somehow he sounded even crueler than before "Now pay attention vermin, because I can only do this once."

"What are you blabbering abo-?" Frieza questioned but stopped as he realised the direction Seluba was making them face.

"NO!" Aayla's scream was a mix of anger and terror she had seen the same thing as Frieza. In the distance but not nearly far enough were Nadan and the still wounded Weiss and they were completely defenceless.

"Say goodbye" Seluba chuckled as his two captives struggled to free themselves. Both Frieza and Aayla kicked and bucked doing everything they could to break their Crodan captor's grasp. Seluba's inane laughter finally ceased as he opened his bloody maw. From the depths of his mouth they could see the shine of a silver Ki blast forming. Acting as quickly as he could Frieza coiled his tail around Seluba's smaller arm on the Frost Demon's side and pulled with all his might. Frieza heard the sound of chiton shattering and flesh tearing as he separated the limb from Seluba's body. The tactic worked in forcing Seluba to let go of Frieza but it was too late as just before the arm came loose Seluba fired his Cataclysmic Retribution at the helpless pair below.

Frieza charged down as fast as he could but it was too late there was no way he would reach them in time! Before he had even made it halfway to the ground the blasted impacted and exploded, there was no way the two could have survived such an attack. Frieza could only float there in shock staring at the swirling cloud of debris, he could just make out Aayla's grief stricken yells as she engaged Seluba above him.

Frieza had failed them, he was supposed to watch out for both of them but he had failed. The cloud kicked up from the blast began to dissipate and Frieza braced himself for what it would reveal. As the cloud finally settled Frieza's heart leapt at the site of a lone standing figure with a single outstretched hand. As he looked down on the solitary figure who was standing guard over the prone figures behind him only one word graced the Frost Demon's lips, "impossible."

* * *

The moment he saw the incoming attack Nadan knew he was doomed, but perhaps he could still save Weiss. Placing himself over the injured girl Nadan hoped to shield her with his own body, deep down he knew his own body would make little difference but it was all he could do for the girl. Clutching his eyes tightly he braced for the incoming attack. The blast was deafening and the force of the impacted threatened to blow the pair away but there was no pain, no burning as far as the Malakan could tell they were both very much alive.

Getting off of Weiss Nadan turned around to see what had stopped the attack, he had been expecting either Lord Frieza or Aayla. Instead the site of their saviour was far more surprising. With steam still coming off his body their saviour had collapsed in a heap from blocking the gigantic blast.

* * *

As Shuyo was wallowing in his own delusions of being useless, he was still watching the ongoing battle. The fight could go either way in all honesty with Frieza and Aayla having the advantage of teamwork at their disposal. But on the other hand Seluba had become a living tank shrugging off major damage like it was nothing and healing what few wounds that were inflicted.

As Seluba took to the air Shuyo could sense the massive buildup of energy mixed with the malicious intent. The thing that really struck Shuyo as odd was that he was facing neither Aayla nor Frieza, in fact there's nothing in that direction except… NO! Shuyo thought to himself. But in truth there was no other explanation and so Shuyo sprang into action, racing to intercept Seluba's attack which had just fired. Planting himself between the doctor, his patient and the incoming blast Shuyo extended his good arm outwards to stop the blast. The force of the explosion was intense and energy partially obscured the stoic monk, but he held firm, he had drawn his line in the sand and he would not budge.

Pain coursed through the monk's body, steam rose from his scorched flesh and every muscle in his body screamed for rest. Despite all of that Shuyo simply grinned he had saved the lives of two innocents, it was probably the only good thing he had done all day and he would savour the feeling. Exhaustion quickly overtook Shuyo however and he felt his knees buckle from the strain of keeping him upright. Just before his vision faded to black his thoughts went to his master and hoped that he approved of his actions.

* * *

"That self-righteous pain in the ass I should have known recruiting him was a mistake." Seluba growled as he continued to trade blows with Aayla. The Securan warrior was doing her best but she couldn't keep going against the mutated bug who seemed to have a never ending supply of stamina. "I'm done with you" Seluba stated as he pushed forward against the azure beauty slamming a series of punches into her body knocking the wind out of her. As she began to lose altitude Seluba fired as quick burst of concentrated Ki blasts all of which impacted against Aayla's armour shattering it and blasting her out of the sky completely.

Before she could hit the ground however she was caught out of the air by her ivory knight himself. Frieza's face was a mask of rage and hate, he would make that rotten bug pay for everything he did. Setting the unconscious Aayla down next to The Nemesis Frieza turned to see the approaching figure of Nadan with Weiss in a hover gurney.

"My Lord I have her stabilized but she needs immediate intensive care" Nadan didn't even pause a moment as he rushed his patient into the open hatch of The Nemesis. "I'll come back for Aayla as well in a moment." Nadan rushed inside with his patient while Frieza looked back towards his Seluba, even from down on the ground Frieza could tell his adversary was doubled over in pain.

Seluba could barely move, every muscle in his body was in agony, his body temperature was almost double what it should be and the red mist pouring out of him was now a solid crimson cloud. The mutated Crodan could practically feel his internal organs failing one by one as he cooked inside his own shell. Well he could at least take solace knowing that he lasted ten minutes in this form, double what that moron doctor thought he could handle.

Amidst the pain Seluba could just make out the form of Frieza standing before him, battered and bruised, cuts running along his body and scorch marks adorning his normally flawless ivory skin. Seluba chuckled, he would have won their fight one on one but that damn blue bitch kept getting in the way.

"Come to gloat Frieza?" Seluba chuckled through the pain, if he was going to die the least he could do was make sure the Frost Demon wouldn't get to enjoy it.

"No, I'm here to end this farce." With that Frieza charged forward planting his fist into the center of Seluba's chest. The force of the impact caused Seluba to retch, a solid stream of blood and bile erupted from his opened mouth as he felt his carapace crack under the strike. As Seluba's head started to fall Frieza connected with another punch right on his adversary's chin, that strike shattered the Crodan's jaw. Moving on to the Crodan's remaining good arm, Frieza stretched it out before breaking it over his knee, the sound of breaking bone and cracked chiton was like morbid music to the Frost Demon's ears.

The whole while Seluba made no sound he would not allow his nemesis the satisfaction of hearing him scream. Frieza followed with several further blows up along the Crodan's body each impact cracking or shattering his protective shell. The whole while Frieza never spoke a word, he went about his business with at a methodical pace he had never experienced before, he was going to take apart this pathetic bug piece by bloody piece. He didn't know what was causing Seluba's body to fail and in all honesty he couldn't care less, he had work to do.

Friza wrapped his tail around the Crodan's neck cutting off what little air he could gather with only a single partially functioning lung. Tugging his adversary forward Frieza spun around connecting a powerful elbow into Seluba's waist splintering the shell, before following up with two more consecutive elbow's. The second elbow cracked the chiton even further but the third shattered it into a million pieces once again exposing the cancerous flesh underneath.

Raising a single finger Frieza unleashed a Death Beam Barrage across his body. Each beam carved a bloody path through Seluba before exiting out of his back in a miniature explosion of Ki, chiton, flesh and blood. Turning his attention back to Seluba's disgusting face Frieza reached down grasping one of the Crodan's intact mandibles and tearing it off. Frieza was half expecting a stream of blood to erupt but instead was greeted by a burst of the red mist emanating from the wound. Forgetting about it almost immediately Frieza drove the torn off mandible into Seluba's right eye. Hearing the resounding pop and gush of intraocular fluid brought a sickening amount of satisfaction to the Frost Demon.

Despite all of this Seluba did not make a single sound, perhaps it was his own will that drove him onwards. Perhaps it was because his nervous system had shut down thirty seconds ago, he really couldn't tell. All he knew was that it would all be over soon. So with nothing else he could do he smiled, that same malicious smile he had used to taunt his opponents throughout their fight.

Seeing that same smile once again only told Frieza it was time to end this now, his foe was as good as dead, all that was left was to make it memorable. Using his telekinesis to hold Seluba in place, Frieza scanned his body for the correct target. After a few seconds he spotted the perfect spot an exposed bit of skin just under where the bug's rib cage would have been if Frieza hadn't already smashed it to dust. Frieza drove his finger straight into the wound as far as it would go, reaching upwards he grabbed the Crodan by his lower jaw and pulled his face downwards to meet his own.

"I call this the Internal Death Ball, congratulations you are the first recipient, now die." Frieza charged the Death Ball quickly and after a brief moment of hearing the sphere disintegrate everything it touched inside it exploded with a ferocious blast. As the light from the blast cleared Frieza watched as what was left of Seluba plummeted back to the ground below. Frieza would have turned back to the Nemesis to check on the others at that point but the thought of even one scrap of that filth existing made Frieza want to hurl, so he descended to where the body had fallen.

What was left of Seluba had landed just a few meters away from the still unconscious form of Shuyo. The monk's prone form temporarily distracted the Frost Demon from his primary objective, as he gazed down at the monk Frieza found he was having trouble deciding what to do with him. True he was an enemy to begin with but he had assisted against Seluba and even protected Weiss and Nadan at great risk to himself. On the other hand the monk had vowed to defeat both him and Cooler so maybe finishing him off now would be best?

Frieza's internal thoughts were suddenly cut off by a repulsive sound emanating from his right. It didn't take long to recognize what the sound was, it was laughter, horrid, wheezing, chocked laughter. Turning his head in disbelief Frieza's gaze fell on what was left of his Crodan adversary. There was almost nothing left of him, a few scraps of flesh made up what was left of his chest, he had a single arm left, the one that had been broken in several places and his face could be best described as a child's art project gone horribly wrong. Yet there he was still smiling, still laughing, still barely alive he truly lived up to his cockroach ancestors because he just refused to die.

"What's so funny?" Frieza approached the ruined body of his enemy with arms crossed ad scowl placed firmly on his face.

"You" Seluba chuckled, how he was capable of making any sound in that condition was beyond Frieza. "You think you've won but you haven't" Seluba planted his remaining arm against the ground to steady himself before sneering up at the Frost Demon who seemed to tower above him. "If I'm going to die here the least I can do is make sure I'm not going alone."

Frieza realised what had happened a fraction of a second too late as Seluba took all of his remaining energy and pumped it into a single blast that went straight into the ground. Frieza's eyes widened in horror as the ground beneath him began to shake violently and cracks began opening in the ground around them. As a self-taught expert on planetary annihilation Frieza realised the planet was doomed the rotten bug had nailed the core and the planet had mere moments before it would tear itself apart. Spinning around Frieza raced back towards The Nemesis, as he passed over Shuyo he coiled his tail around the monk's leg pulling him along with him. He still wasn't sure what to do with the monk but he wasn't about to let the honorable warrior perish like this. Returning to the ship Frieza could see the waiting form of Aayla in the air lock with arms outstretched. Frieza came to a halt whipping his tail forward and sending the unconscious form of Shuyo into Aayla's waiting arms.

Using his telekinesis Frieza forced the air lock closed sealing the ship from the outside. He could just make out Aayla's enraged face at the viewport as he focused his mental energy to hurl The Nemesis into the air forcing the ship into space and away from the blast radius. Towers of liquid metal erupted around him as the planet began to collapse under its own weight. Frieza raced across the landscape dodging vents of fire, bolts of lighting and chunks of earth as he made his way to the destroyed building where he found the family of three. There was no way they could survive the explosion but if Frieza could get to them he could form a barrier and protect them. Saving three lives was better than none after all.

Smashing through a solid chunk of falling concrete he spotted them, they were still in the spot he had left them in, still huddled in fear. Frieza picked up speed another second and he could keep the trio safe. As with Shuyo, Frieza wasn't sure why he was doing this but something in his gut drove him onward. The young boy looked up from his parents grasp and spotted the incoming frost prince and excitedly waved his arms signalling their location.

Just as Frieza came within a few meters of the family the ground underneath them erupted in a plume of blinding orange light. Frieza came to a sudden halt, they were gone, they had been reduced to ash in the blink of an eye. Frieza had failed them just like the rest of his world, just like the rest of his people. Frieza simply stood there while the world around him crumbled, he didn't bring up a barrier, he didn't defend himself, he didn't even try to escape he just stood there as the planet around him broke apart and finally exploded in a brilliant flash of light.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Alright the battle for Fuar is over! For those expecting a happy ending well….. Surprise! Did our hero the enigmatic Lord Frieza survive? Probably? But who knows what dastardly tricks I have up my sleeve MUAHAHA! In all honesty I think I may have had too much fun writing this chapter especially the end.**

 **A few things I would like to address one of the main things Is power levels. Much like Toriyama-Sama himself I am not going to be focusing on numbers but feats to show off how strong a character is. I personally never liked the idea of power levels, they basically go against what Dragon Ball is all about, it's not about these arbitrary numbers that are assigned to a character, Dragon Ball has always been about surpassing limits so I will be focusing on that instead of who has the biggest number.**

 **Moving on I spent way too long trying to find a name for the healing machine's medicine, since I could not find one for the life of me I said screw it were calling it bacta! Let's face it, it's a transparent blue liquid that is typically administered through being submerged in a tank if that isn't bacta I don't know what is.**

 **I also played heavily with the passage of time so from start to finish this chapter was about 12-13 minutes in length. Again going back to my earlier statement of showing character strength by surpassing limits, Seluba was told he would have five minutes in his enhanced form, to which he said screw you I'll make it 10!**

 **Lastly with Frieza's beat down of Seluba, there is nothing that is quite as terrifying as seeing someone methodically tear apart a person. I wanted to convey this with that moment to show just how serious Frieza was. Normally Frieza plays with his opponents but here we see him focused and brutal he has a job to do and he is going to finish it.**

 **I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. Can you believe we're at 5200 views that is phenomenal! You guys have been awesome!**

 **If I've forgotten anything, if you have any questions or just want to chat about the story, hit me up the feedback I've gotten has been awesome.**

 **Until the next chapter guys, hope your day rocks!**


	10. Chapter 10 - Lost In SPAAAAAACE

"Where the hell is he?" Aayla had asked that question so many times to herself she had stopped keeping track.

It had been over a week now since the conclusion of the battle of Fuar, since the planet's untimely destruction. Frieza had been missing that entire time, most likely wounded and drifting in the debris field of what was left of the planet. As Aayla gazed out of the viewport of The Nemesis she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, it was like trying to find a needle in a bale of loflaire grass. Except in this case the bale was the size of a planet and the needle might not even be there cause it got itself killed.

No he's alive out there I know he is, Aayla thought to herself. The azure warrior had to continuously remind herself that Frieza would not be done in by something as trivial as a planet exploding under his feet. It was just a matter of time before they found him, their search party was working almost around the clock to find their missing leader.

"Nothing in this sector either Aayla should we move on?" Nadan asked from his work station. The Malakan had been searching almost nonstop since Weiss, Shuyo and herself finished their recoveries.

"Yes let's move on, keep scanning he's out there I know it." Aayla sighed as she turned to Tukkan who was busy monitoring the communications. "Have Weiss or Cooler found anything yet?" she asked the Konatsian chef.

"Not sure but they're both coming aboard now so you can try asking them." The entire crew had been in a solemn mood since the battle even the usually high-spirited master chef seemed to be moping around. Aayla simply nodded as she made her way to the airlock only to have two small blurs race past her to it first. Both Tyr and Raijin had been practically glued to Weiss after the battle, both of them feeling guilty that they weren't there to watch her back. Despite Weiss' protests they had spent the better part of a week glued to her making sure she was ok.

The airlock hissed open just as both Weiss and Cooler stepped into the hall Weiss was immediately bombarded with questions from her two cohorts, while Cooler simply locked eyes with Aayla. She didn't even need to ask the look on his face said it all, once again he had come back empty handed. Without saying a word Cooler walked away from the group, his tail swaying as he made his way down the hall.

Ever since he regained consciousness only to find his world destroyed and his brother missing Cooler's attitude shifted drastically, he wasn't his normal self-confident, suave self. He had become withdrawn, moody and downright unapproachable. He skipped most meals now and spent the better part of his day combing through the debris of Fuar for any sign of life, not just his brother but of any surviving Frost Demons who might have survived the blast. He didn't even object to Aayla taking command of the entire operation which shocked the Securan more than anything.

"Guys I am fine could you please just give me some space!" Weiss' agitated voice snapped Aayla out of her thoughts as both Tyr and Raijin mumbled apologetically before turning away to wander off.

"They're just worried about you sweetheart" Aayla said as she bent down to the Frost Demoness' height.

"Ugh I know but it's not their fault I got hurt it's my own stupid fault, all of this is my fault!" Weiss stamped down angrily. The way she crossed her arms and even the look of agitation she wore were almost identical to Frieza, the resemblance between the two was uncanny.

"We've been over this, it's not your fault this happened" Aayla placed both her hands on the young girl's shoulders and stared straight into her eyes. Weiss could only last a few seconds before she turned away from the piercing azure eyes of the Securan warrior.

Tears began running down the young girl's face as she raised it to look back Aayla "but if I hadn't jumped in I wouldn't have gotten hurt, then Mr. Shuyo wouldn't have had to save me and Nadan, he wouldn't have gotten hurt and he could have helped Frieza before that bug guy blew up the planet." Weiss had gone over this several times before and it didn't seem like any amount of reasoning would convince her otherwise. As far as Weiss was concerned she may as well have been the one to blow up their home.

Aayla hugged the girl as she sniffled into the crook of the azure beauty's neck, rubbing circles gently into her back to try and sooth the distraught child. After a solid minute Weiss broke away from the hug mumbling something about going to bed early so she could get back out to search. As the Frost Demoness rounded the corner Aayla exhaled deeply and leaned up against the wall, it hurt Aayla to see her, to see all of them, like this.

"You may be a megalomaniacal pain in the ass Frieza but god damn it they need you" after a brief pause of self-reflection Aayla snorted before continuing "hell, so do I."

Aayla was roused by the sound of someone clearing their throat beside her causing Aayla to nearly jump out of her skin. "Damn it Shuyo, you can't just sneak up on someone like that!"

"My apologies" the green monk bowed his head politely, the monk had been nothing short of silent since he awoke from his time in one of the ships two bacta tanks. Once he got out Aayla explained to him where he was and what happened. The revelation of the planet's destruction and Frieza's disappearance seemed to unnerve the green warrior. It didn't help matters that upon realising Shuyo was on the ship with them Cooler's immediate reaction was to launch him out the airlock.

 _"What is he doing here?!"_

 _"Calm down Cooler, Frieza tossed him onboard before the planet exploded."_

 _"Well good for him, we're tossing him right back out!"_

 _"No, Frieza went out of his way to save him so he's staying until your brother gets back."_

 _"I outrank everyone on this ship therefore he goes!"_

 _"And I don't give a damn about your rank!"_

 _"Grrrr."_

 _"On top of that Shuyo here saved Frieza, Weiss, Nadan and the entire planet during that fight, which he wouldn't have had to do if you hadn't lost your cool like a child!"_

 _"…."_

 _"So unless you have a good reason for kicking him off the ship get out of my face I'm taking him to Nadan!"_

The memory of Aayla and Cooler's heated argument was still fresh in the Securan's mind, Cooler would never have given up his position so easily, but that battle had taken its toll on him mentally. Turning her attention back to the monk she smiled at him "It's ok Shuyo, how's your recovery coming?" Aayla still remembered Nadan frantically going over the monk's injuries, multiple broken bones, fractured skull, internal bleeding and 4th degree burns it was a miracle the monk survived at all with all the damage he sustained.

Shuyo stared at Aayla with a perplexed expression on his face, he always seemed to have one like that whenever he interacted with anyone on the ship.

Sighing to herself Aayla pinched the bridge of her nose before asking the monk "alright what's with that?"

Slightly taken aback by her statement Shuyo stumbled over his words before responding "w-what's with what?"

"That look you have right now, every time someone on this ship says or does something nice you look at them like they've just sprouted a second head." Aayla thought she knew the reason behind this behaviour and if she was right she knew she'd have to get it out of the way immediately.

"Oh, well you see I guess I was just expecting um…." Shuyo trailed off looking guiltily at the ground.

"Let me guess you thought that since we're with Frieza we'd all be a bunch of kill crazy goons?" Aayla smirked as she leaned back against the wall of the corridor.

"It's not about you specifically, it's more about…" Shuyo began before he trailed off, he was having trouble meeting the piercing blue eyes of the Securan.

"Frieza, look I'm not going to sugar coat it, everything you've heard about him is probably true. He's killed a lot of people more than I think even he knows, but he's not such a bad guy once you get to know him." Shuyo clearly wasn't fully convinced judging by the way his jaw clenched up, so Aayla just kept going. "Ever since he got back from Namek over a year ago something's been different about him. I don't think even he realises it himself but he's becoming a better person, whether he wants to or not."

"How?" Shuyo's question almost sounded like a plea as if he desperately needed to know.

"Well I don't think he's killed any of his subordinates since he got back, I know that doesn't sound that impressive but from what I've heard it's a huge improvement." Aayla chuckled at Shuyo's uncertain expression. "It's really the little things that show you how he's changing, he's made peace with his brother, which a lot of people didn't believe was possible. You should see him around the kids, they adore him and they are clearly rubbing off on him." Aayla couldn't help but smile thinking about the fun they had back in Ymir Stadium. "You yourself saw how he put himself at risk to save others, hell he did it for you twice."

"Yes, I know…. I just don't know what to make of this situation, I swore I would overthrow both Frieza and Cool-" Shuyo was cut off by Aayla outstretched palm.

"I'd like to direct your attention out this viewport" Aayla pointed to the window they were both standing beside. "As you can see their kingdom has been quite overthrown so congrats you succeeded, you should get bonus points because Frieza's still missing out there."

Shuyo's shoulders slumped as he looked upon the devastation wrought from the battle, finally hanging his head the monk could only mumble "I didn't want this."

"I figured as much, and if Frieza can look past you being an enemy and actually save you then so can I. Let's face it the day Frieza becomes the most open-minded of us is the day the universe implodes." After garnering no reaction from her joke Aayla slapped Shuyo on the shoulder to get his attention. "Come on cheer up a little there's enough depressed people on this ship right now, I don't need another."

Shuyo once again looked into Aayla's eyes trying to discern why she was being so nice to him. "I wouldn't say I'm depressed, just…. Confused."

"Well how about we get you something to do, it might help you focus, what do you do for fun?" Aayla asked the tall monk who had the most quizzical look as he thought about his own pastimes.

"I don't really do much for fun, I mostly wander the universe looking to assist those in need, I meditate in my free time and-" Once again Aayla halted the green monk with her hand she was trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

"I get it you're kind of boring, look this ship has state of the art everything, workout rooms, dining area, theater center, a link to the galaxy's largest database we're going to find you something to do alright." Aayla patted Shuyo's shoulder comfortingly before continuing "after all you are going to be staying with us for a while, unless you're partial to Cooler's solution" she grinned up at the towering figure who tried his best to return the gesture. "You also need to work on that smile a little more"

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the shipwide com system flicking on. "Attention everyone you are all cordially invited to our first ever Cheer the Hell Up Banquet!" Tyr's voice rang through the halls of the ship gathering everyone's attention.

The sound of rustling could be heard as Tyr leaned away from the microphone "wait, really? That's what that means? Ok uh never mind you are all mandatorily invited to the banquet that means you Mr. Big Green Guy and you Mr. Cooler, no more skipping meals!" Aayla couldn't help but burst out laughing at the uneasy look on Shuyo's face as the com system shut off.

"Is he serious?" Shuyo asked nervously, Shuyo wasn't the most adept at normal social gatherings let alone ones with his enemies. Were they really his enemies though? At this point Shuyo couldn't decide he needed more time.

The com system flicked back on and Tyr's voice once again rang through The Nemesis "I almost forgot if you don't show up I'm gonna get Weiss to kick your butt!" As the system shut off, hopefully for the last time that day, Shuyo and Aayla could just make out the sound of an angered Frost Demoness down the hall.

"Well you heard the kid, you better be there" Aayla chuckled

* * *

Shuyo entered the dining area nervously, the problem with being a tall, green monk in flowing white robes was that it made him stick out like a sore thumb. Hiding was not his forte and so the moment he walked into the dining area every eye there fell on him. After a brief moment of silence Weiss got up from her seat and walked over to the towering monk, upon reaching him she bowed her head before smiling up at him "thanks for saving me and Nadan, and for helping us in the fight." With that the young Demoness spun around coiling her tail around Shuyo's wrist before dragging him over to the table.

As Shuyo sat down he looked around the table Weiss had taken her seat beside Raijin with an empty one on her left, Nadan was discussing search patterns with Aayla just off to his right and Cooler sat directly across from him. Shuyo wasn't easily intimidated but the cold stare the Frost Prince was giving him was unnerving to say the least. Turning his attention away from the moody Frost Demon Shuyo tapped Aayla on the shoulder to get her attention, she was the only one he had actually spoken to so far.

"Who are the three empty seats for?" Shuyo asked trying to spark up some form of conversation.

"Well those two are for Tukkan and Tyr, they're just in the kitchen preparing the rest of dinner." Aayla paused as she looked at the seat directly to her right, "that one's for…" She trailed off, Shuyo could sense the anxiety and worry from her thoughts, clearly the seat was for Frieza.

The others around the table must have overheard their conversation as the growing sense of sadness spread through the group. This is why I don't do social gatherings Shuyo thought to himself, asked one question and I brought down the whole mood.

A loud slam drew everyone's attention to the back of the room, Tyr had just kicked open the door to the kitchen, his arms were laden with the rest of the dinner they had prepared. "Alright people enough moping, Frieza would be pretty annoyed if he found out you were all just sitting around being emo about him." The young Dramon laughed as he placed the rest of the dishes, behind him Tukkan entered as well taking off his toque and throwing it back into the kitchen behind him.

"I don't know Tyr have you met Frieza? Everyone being sad over his disappearance would just inflate his ego." Tukkan chuckled as he tossed a bottle of wine towards Cooler who caught it deftly "little present I found for you Cooler, I think Frieza had that hidden away in the back."

"Of course he did, spoiled brat was probably hiding this away all for himself" Cooler chuckled, the first positive sound to leave the Frost Demon in over a week. And just like that smiles broke out among the group as they helped themselves to the meal prepared by their chefs. Tyr and Tukkan were busy explaining the dishes to everyone, Nadan and Raijin were discussing some secret project they were working on. Cooler sat sipping his wine contently and Aayla was busy scarfing down food by the forkful pausing only briefly for air whereas across from her Weiss neatly cut her food and ate it politely, the epitome of grace.

All around him Shuyo watched as the group enjoyed the time they spent with one another smiling, joking, telling stories and making plans for the future. He felt incredibly out of place these people had clearly formed a family with one another, he felt like the odd man out in this scenario, which brought on a surprising amount of loneliness. He was no stranger to being alone but this was the first time since the untimely death of his beloved master that he felt truly alone, ironic that it was in a room full of people.

"So, Shuyo since my request to launch you out the airlock has been down voted it seems you will be staying with us for the foreseeable future." Shuyo was snapped out of his thoughts by Cooler's voice, the Frost Demon was staring him down once more with his fiery red eyes. A small smirk passed over the Frost prince's face "why don't you tell us a little about yourself." Shuyo's eyes narrowed as the Frost Demon continued to smirk as he took another sip from his glass. Cooler was perceptive clearly he knew Shuyo was uncomfortable and so decided to exploit that, he couldn't kill the monk but he would make damn sure to make him as uncomfortable as possible while aboard.

Rising to the challenge Shuyo straightened himself up never breaking eye contact with the Frost Demon across from him. "Very well if you're all interested that is" looking around the table Shuyo could see no objections.

"Alright then, I can't remember my earliest years so I can't fill you in on those details, my earliest memories are living on the streets on a backwater planet called Veibos." Already every pair of eyes and ears was now fixated on the green monk including Cooler who hadn't expected Shuyo to actually speak. "It wasn't the nicest place to live to say the least, lawless and poverty was the norm unless you were the head of a gang."

Tukkan snapped his fingers as a smile grew on his face "Hey I dated a girl from Veibos once, good looking Brench with the biggest pair of…" Remembering the children at the table and noticing the death glare he was getting from Aayla quickly cut Tukkan's recount short. "Uh never mind continue man" he said cheerily waving his hand back towards Shuyo.

"Yes well I don't know how I got there, there were no others like me and I spent a long time searching." Reaching into his robes Shuyo extracted a necklace it was just a simple thin chain. It was silver in colour and the only thing to adorn its otherwise plain surface was a wooden semi-circle with a strange symbol carved into it, "This is the only evidence I have to my identity, I don't know what it is or how I got it, all I know is I've had it as long as I can remember. Everyone's attention was soon drawn to Nadan's raised hand. "Yes?" Shuyo asked uncertainly.

"So you have absolutely no clue what species you are?" To which Shuyo could only shake his head. "Fascinating, at first I thought you were a Namekian but clearly you're not, to be honest I don't believe I've ever seen someone like you." Nadan gazed at the seated monk looking as if he was trying to discern the monk's heritage by sight alone.

"That's partially why I travel the universe I don't know who or what I am, I guess I'm just looking for answers." Shuyo had only ever indulged one other person in the universe about this information, he couldn't determine why he was doing it for this group he barely knew, but he couldn't deny it felt good to get this off his chest.

"So how did you get off Veibos?" Raijin asked from across the table as he reached for some vegetables.

"A very kind man found me one day, he saw incredible strength within me, at least that's what he said at the time." The memories of his fateful introduction to his master brought a warm smile to Shuyo, one that he hadn't felt in a long time. "It turns out he was a nomad of sorts traveling from system to system seeking out evildoers and defeating them. He wanted to make me his apprentice, I accepted on the spot, he had me sold at 'leave Veibos'"

"So this guy taught you how to fight and use your power?" Weiss asked to which Shuyo nodded gently. "That's so cool you're just like me! Frieza's been training me as well to help me control my power." Weiss' grin was from ear to ear, if Shuyo was any indication of what a good mentor could produce then she would strive to better herself more than ever.

"Frieza trains you?" Shuyo asked, he had not expected one such as Frieza to be of the mentoring mindset. But looking around at all the people he had attracted into his company clearly meant there was more to the Frost Demon then merely a forceful dictator.

"It's so wonderful see for yourself." Weiss held a glass of water up triumphantly which Shuyo could only stare back in confusion at. "A few months ago I'd have shattered the glass because I had so much trouble keeping my power in check." Weiss was beaming with self-confidence brought on by her accomplishment.

"You also lit your bed on fire, you blew up two no wait three kitchen tables, you blew out a bunch of windows when you sneezed that one time oh and then there was OWW!" Tyr was cut off as Weiss slugged him on the arm, her face contorted in annoyance.

Clearing her throat Weiss once again addressed Shuyo as Tyr rubbed his arm sulkily "Yes well I have made leaps and bounds in my training, we'd put in at least an hour every day." Weiss' smile downturned as she looked at her plate, moving the food around with her fork she continued glumly "we haven't been able to this week."

"So might I ask, where is this master of yours now?" Cooler had finally spoken up to break the morose silence that had once again settled on the table.

"He's gone now, he was quite old I believe around fifty standard years, that was actually quite old for his species." Shuyo nodded to himself remembering the fateful morning "he passed in his sleep peacefully, ever since I took up his mantle, all the while searching for my own past."

"Well now that you're with us we can totally help you, we have so much information stored in the archives we're bound to find something about your people." Tyr chimed in happily "Also The Nemesis is like the fastest ship in the universe, we can get you anywhere you need to go!" Tyr exclaimed "I bet it can go from Cetera to the Zunus system in under twelve parsecs!"

"Parsec is a unit of distance dolt" Weiss said beside him shaking her head at her friend's mistake.

"Oh, really? Well it's still superfast" Tyr huffed as everyone at the table laughed, even Cooler and Shuyo joined in.

The unlikely crew of the Nemesis continued to chat and eat while getting to know the statuesque monk, all the while sharing about themselves. All in all Shuyo had to admit they were good people, Cooler was still a bit of an unknown but the rest were simply people who came into Frieza's company and made a home there. It was also all too clear that without their leader there was something missing from the group. So just as dinner ended Shuyo rose from his seat attracting the group's attention, he cleared his throat as he mentally urged himself onwards.

 _Just do it._

It was one of his mentor's favourite lines and always helped push him towards a goal. "You've all been searching for Frieza for some time now, and I can see how much he means to all of you." Every eye in the group was trained on Shuyo save for Cooler who was quietly sipping another glass of wine. "I also owe him my life as I would be gone if not for him, so…" Shuyo paused wrestling with his own conscious, this is Frieza we're talking about, he thought to himself.

 _Come on my boy just do it._

"So I will assist you in your search for him." Smiles broke out among the group as the children cheered, Nadan and Tukkan nodded to each other in their own form of unspoken communication. Aayla smiled up at the monk beside her giving him a pat on the back, the sound of Cooler clearing his throat brought everyone's attention to the Frost Demon.

"As commendable as that is I have to ask, how exactly do you expect to help us? I don't believe you can survive in a vacuum." Cooler chided from his end of the table.

"My master taught me many things, one of which was how to feel the life force of others, I can sense their energy" All eyes were back on Shuyo now, excitement quickly spreading through the group.

"So you think you can sense his energy even though my scanners, which are state of the art cannot?" Nadan questioned, only mildly annoyed that someone said they could outdo his engineering.

"It's not just his energy, my senses go deeper than that I can feel the thoughts off all living beings if I focus to varying degrees." Nadan leaned back taking in this new information, searching by both energy signature and thought waves would help narrow the search, plus a another perspective searching for Frieza would be invaluable.

"This is great Mr. Shuyo!" Weiss exclaimed happily, turning to Cooler she grinned coyly. "And you wanted to shoot him out the airlock" she mocked to which Cooler only grinned back.

"Oh I assure you I still do, let's not forget he is responsible for the deaths of Neiz, Dore and Salza." Cooler was back to staring down Shuyo who bowed his head. "However" Shuyo lifted his head back up as the Frost Prince continued "if he can help find my brother then that will be a good start to making things up to us."

Aayla stood up garnering everyone's attention "Alright everyone that's enough of that it's late, time for bed, for all of you." Aayla glanced over everyone at the table children and adults alike. "Tomorrow we're going to find Frieza so I want you all well rested and up early got it?"

Everyone mumbled their agreement Tyr and Raijin were the first to leave as the cleaning drones came to clean the dining area. Weiss was next however she made a brief stop in front of Shuyo and Ayala. She bowed to the bemused monk, Shuyo had not experienced such civility in a long time. Coming from someone so young who was trained by the galactic overlord himself was even stranger.

"Even if you can't find him, I just want to thank you for trying, and don't worry I won't let Cooler shoot you out of the airlock Mr. Shuyo." She said cheerily before turning around and walking towards the door.

"You can just call me Shuyo, there's no need for the Mr." Weiss turned back with an uncertain expression before she smiled happily.

"Sure thing Shuyo, I'll see you in the morning." With that she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. Followed by Nadan and Tukkan who were busy arguing with each other over something, Shuyo couldn't hear the details but it sounded like Tukkan was winning.

Turning around he was now face to face with Cooler who, after a brief few moments of intense staring, nodded before leaving as well.

"Aww I think he likes you" Aayla teased from beside Shuyo, she was snickering at the entire interaction. "Don't worry, much like his brother, Cooler's not so bad once you get to know him. He's just kind of in a slump right now, you know after everything that happened."

Shuyo nodded somberly understanding all too well. A quick slap on the back brought the monk back from his thoughts as Aayla grinned "come on big green bed time for you too."

Smiling back Shuyo followed the Securan warrior as she left, upon exiting the room they went their separate ways Aayla going left and Shuyo going right to their respective rooms. As he lay down in his bed that was prepared for him Shuyo realised just how much he had enjoyed the meal. As the sweet embrace of sleep enveloped him Shuyo couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Morning came for Aayla the same as it had for the last eight days, with one massive headache. Trudging out of her bedroom she made her way to the bridge, but not before grabbing a cup of caf from the kitchen. She waited on the bridge for the rest of the crew to show up, she had to admit these few quite moments she got were not bad. As Tyr walked in sleepily with his shirt on backwards Aayla addressed the entire group.

"Alright you all know what your jobs are right?" She asked the still slightly groggy bunch before her.

"Cooler and I will be out in the debris field searching by sight." Weiss chimed in to which Cooler gave a terse nod.

"And I'll be handling their communications so we don't lose them out there" Tukkan added in his normal carefree attitude.

"I'll be piloting the ship, while Raijin mans the energy sensors and Tyr monitors the rangefinder." Both boys saluted to the woman in charge before grinning at each other.

Shuyo stepped forward next, he had been at the back of the group "And I'll be scanning for Frieza as well."

"Excellent" Aayla stated before raising a questioning brow at the green monk. "Is there a specific place where we can situate you Shuyo?"

After a brief moment of consideration Shuyo nodded "somewhere quiet would be preferable."

"Workout room it is, the thing's completely soundproof." Shuyo nodded his head in appreciation as Aayla turned back towards the rest of the crew. "Alright everyone I have a good feeling about today, let's bring Frieza home."

The group dispersed to their respective positions and Aayla took to the captain's chair. While at first glance it may seem like all she was doing was delegation but in reality she was doing her own part to search out her missing partner. Much like Shuyo she was using her mind specifically the mental bond they had formed through months of training with each other and spending hours upon hours in each other's company. This was partially why, on the inside at least, she had been so tense these last few days. She couldn't feel that connection, it disappeared the moment Fuar exploded.

It also didn't help her mental state knowing that in the span of about a month she had now lost two planets she had called home. Both times because of monsters she couldn't defeat herself. Aayla shook her head to clear it she needed to focus, the loss of Secura cost Aayla her people, she refused to have the loss of Fuar cost her Frieza.

The search was taking hours and no one was taking a break, even after Aayla demanded Weiss get back to the ship to rest, which she completely ignored. No one wanted to quit, to everyone searching it felt like if they couldn't find their missing leader today they would have to accept that maybe he was gone forever. The longer Aayla reached out with her thoughts into the void the more depressed she became, she couldn't feel a damn thing. "Where the hell are you?" Aayla muttered under her breath for what felt like the umpteenth time that hour.

The sound of running footsteps broke the Securan's concentration, angrily she turned around to berate whoever was making so much noise when Shuyo burst through the door. There was a brief moment where their eyes locked before Shuyo stated "I found him."

Both Shuyo and Aayla stood at the viewport of The Nemesis as they made their way through the debris field. They had relayed the information to Cooler, Weiss had taken off her communicator after Aayla's earlier outburst. Nadan had left Raijin to pilot the ship while he prepared the med bay for Frieza, Shuyo didn't give details but by the sound of it their lost leader was unconscious and incredibly drained.

The spotlights of The Nemesis fell upon the unconscious floating body of the Frost Prince just as Cooler reached him. An emerald streak of energy rushed past the ship, Weiss must have just spotted them gathering together. Aboard Aayla smiled as she felt the gentle presence of her partner's own mind, her headache was already beginning to dissipate at last. A warning light flashed indicating the airlock was being opened signalling the Frost Demons' return, at once everyone left their stations and rushed to the airlock.

Aayla arrived at the entrance just as the hatch opened up revealing Cooler carrying the unconscious form of his brother. Frieza was a mess, bruised all over with severe looking burns and welts along his normally flawless skin. His arm hung at an odd angle clearly broken in two locations and cuts and scratches lined his body, they were now scabbed over but the purple stains left behind by his blood left him looking absolutely ghastly.

"Out of my way, out of my way" Nadan shoved his way forward bringing with him a floating gurney and his scanner. Cooler gently laid his brother on the mobile table as the Malakan began scanning his body, the gurney was now heading towards the med bay with everyone following closely behind. After a few moments of reading through his scanner's findings Nadan's face blanched in a mix of shock and horror. "How the hell are you still alive My Lord?" Upon reaching the med bay Nadan quickly turned around to face the others "someone help me get him in here now!"

* * *

Bacta was truly an amazing substance, capable of healing just about any injury given enough time. That was the key word, time, Frieza was in rough shape and he was going to be recovering for a while. This hadn't deterred Aayla, after telling Raijin to get them out of the debris field and everyone to go rest she took her place on the med bay's couch. There wasn't anything to do but wait, even Nadan had gone to get some much needed sleep.

Aayla was busy skimming through a story she had been reading to pass the time, it was then that she heard the door slide open. Standing in the doorway was an exhausted Weiss, dark circles were forming under her eyes and she stumbled as she entered the room.

"You should be in bed dear" Aayla said worriedly as she placed her tablet down beside her.

"I couldn't sleep" Weiss mumbled as she clumsily made her way to the Securan. She had been pushing herself every day since her own recovery and the wear and tear was finally starting to show on the resilient Demoness.

Rolling her eyes Aayla smiled as she pat the spot on the couch beside her inviting the younger girl to join her. Weiss hopped on the couch leaning her head back into the soft fabric as her body sank into it. For the first time in a week Weiss could truly say she felt relaxed.

Aayla smiled as she returned to the story she was reading, five minutes went by until she felt something brush up against her arm. Looking down she chuckled at the sight of the dozing Frost Demoness. Lifting her arm up she watched as Weiss' sleeping form cuddled up to her side finally resting her head into her sides just under her armpit. Aayla wrapped her arm around the child while she continued to read, not noticing the darkness clouding her vision until it was too late.

A sharp beeping roused Aayla from her sleep, still groggy from the unexpected siesta she reached out to turn off her alarm clock. When her flailing hand hit nothing she opened her eyes wide realising where she was. Jerking her head up she could now hear the sound of liquid draining, the beeping was coming from the bacta tank which had just finished!

"Hey Weiss wake up" Aayla shook the Frost Demoness awake as she heard the locks on the machine begin to release.

Weiss' head slowly rose, her vision clearing just in time to see the hatch of the bacta tank begin to open. Almost tripping on her own tail Weiss jumped up and began to walk towards the machine just as a gleaming ivory figure made his way out. Frieza took a deep breath, the first he voluntarily took since his planet's destruction, the sharp intake felt exquisite. He barely had time to look over his rejuvenated body before a white and green blur flew at him. Latching her arms around her mentor's neck Weiss cried out, her massive smile a stark contrast to the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"You're alive, you're alive, you're alive!" She repeated shoving her head into the crook of his neck to make sure this wasn't just a dream. "I'm so sorry! It's all my fault please don't hate me!" She sobbed into his shoulder.

Coiling his tail around her waist Frieza lifted the distraught Demoness off of him. "I'm glad to see you as well" Frieza smirked at the young girl's trembling lips. "Don't blame yourself, this whole mess was my fault, also father's, but mostly my own."

Weiss broke into another burst of tears and wailing as she rushed forward breaking the older Frost Demon's grasp, once again she latched her arms around his neck.

He managed to look over the young girl's shoulder to Aayla who was clearly enjoying the site of their reunion. Returning the smile she gave him Frieza asked "So what did I miss?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone really sorry about the late release but I have had a week and a half, work, buying a new car, Captain America and getting back in the gym have left me drained.**

 **So no action this time around I felt it was time to slow down a little and use the downtime to get into how the rest of the crew function together. It was a surprisingly jarring change considering the last three chapters have essentially been 80% fights.**

 **One of the main focuses was Shuyo's integration into the crew, which I felt was slightly easier than expected. The kids would be totally cool with him especially Weiss, Nadan was saved by him, he also represents a mystery to which Nadan will want to look further into. Tukkan's so laid back I'm pretty sure he would be cool with anyone joining up so not a problem there. Aayla is basically a good judge of character, not to mention that Frieza went out of his way to save him so that's another plus. The main thing is Cooler, Cooler still sees him as somewhat a threat and won't be letting go of Neiz, Salza and Dore's deaths for quite some time, the two of them are not through by a long shot.**

 **Shuyo's mystery origins will be delved into deeper in some later chapters, this was just me planting the seeds for the future while at the same time serving as a 'getting to know you' talk with the rest of the crew.**

 **One of the other things I really wanted to show was that Aayla can work independently of Frieza while at the same time showing that she truly does care about him. So I decided she needed to step up and take command in his stead. And I also wanted to use this time to build up Weiss' relationship with Aayla, which I'll admit I had as much fun writing as Frieza tearing apart Seluba… what does that say about me? (Don't answer that)**

 **I am super tired so if I missed anything or you just want to ask a question or talk about the story feel free to hit me up. We're now at over 6200 views and 53 followers that is crazy, you guys have taken this farther than I ever could have anticipated.**

 **As always you guys have been great I'll see you in the next chapter**


	11. Chapter 11 - Taking This Chapter To 11

Frieza was being pushed to his limits, he was slowly being driven back by his assailants who would not let up their tireless assault. After dodging a powerful kick the Frost Demon tried to make some space between himself and his adversaries only to find that they had now completely surrounded him. They charged in unison, Frieza was ready though coiling his tail around his first attacker and tossing them off to the side while ducking a left hook from the one in front of him. Frieza made the most of the opportunity by kicking outwards, the blow connecting with the second attacker's gut sending them sprawling to the ground below.

Frieza's two remaining attackers charged in from both sides trying a pincer maneuver. Frieza expertly spun around slapping his tail into the attacker on his left who was sent spiraling to the ground as well. The Frost Prince turned just in time to block an incoming strike and respond with a fierce headbutt which seemed to daze his opponent as they floated back down.

"Come now is that really the best you can do? I mean there are four of you and just one of me" Frieza scoffed as his adversaries regrouped. The four figures glanced at each before nodding in unison, without warning all four charged Frieza who was not prepared for the sudden assault and was quickly being pushed back once more. It wasn't long before Frieza felt his back collide with a wall as his assailants closed in.

Frieza ducked an incoming kick from one attacker only to be met with a powerful knee from another which left the Frost Demon winded. A pair of fists collided with the side of Frieza's head as he tried to regain his composure sending him sailing into the path of the fourth fighter who was ready and spiked the Frost Prince to the ground with a resounding crash.

Rising to his feet Frieza glared at the four other fighters, the vein at the top of his forehead began to bulge, the telltale sign of the Frost Demon's annoyance. "What happened to this being a free-for-all?" Frieza called to the other four warriors who began laughing at the Frost Demon's exasperation.

Cooler, Shuyo, Aayla and Weiss all touched down grinning at their unimpressed leader. Cooler stepped forward cracking his neck with each step "well you said you needed a work out brother, are you telling me it's too much for you?" Cooler grinned at Frieza's annoyed expression. "I distinctly remember you saying you could take us all on easily" Cooler smirked as Frieza slapped his tail down in derision.

"Very well, come get me" Frieza scoffed as the rest of the group charged at him, once again it was four on one, this forced Frieza to actually start taking this seriously. It had been a week since Frieza had exited the bacta tank and after two days of 'mandatory' recovery time, courtesy of Nadan, Frieza was back to full power and was ready to get back to work.

Raising his guard he was able to block a kick delivered from Shuyo with his forearm, the kick glanced off his arm allowing him to spin around to now face Aayla as she threw an uppercut. While Frieza tilted his head back to avoid the Securan's strike he lashed out with his tail forcing Cooler to close his own guard lest he be struck by his younger brother's powerful tail. Making some room between himself and his bodyguard Frieza dodged to the right to avoid the charging ball of energy that was his protégé. Changing course Weiss charged at Frieza once again, her mentor was hand to hand with Shuyo seeing which one could overpower the other. Grinning to herself she saw the perfect opening, there was no way he'd be able to stop her while he was grappling with Shuyo. Catching the young Demoness' approach from the corner of his eye Frieza pulled Shuyo to the side at the last moment so that Weiss slammed directly into the green monk's back.

"Sorry Shuyo!" Weiss called out as the green monk flew across the training room.

"What have I told you about watching your surroundings?" Frieza chided the young girl as he coiled his tail around her midsection. Weiss tried to lunge at her mentor however she couldn't budge, looking down she realised why and no matter how hard she tried she could not get Frieza's tail off of her.

"Frieza this is not fair and you know it!" Weiss pouted at the Frost Prince as he turned to face the other combatants. Frieza looked to engage the other three pushing forward with a flurry of punches making sure that not one of them got a moment to compose themselves. Frieza lashed out with a snap kick towards his brother, Cooler was able to block the attack but it still had the desired effect breaking Cooler away so he could focus on the other two.

'Aayla would you be a dear and spar with Cooler for a little I want to test myself against the strapping monk, if you don't mind that is.' Aayla hadn't felt Frieza's mental contact in over two weeks at that point and so its sudden reappearance alone made her halt her attack allowing Frieza to focus solely on Shuyo. As Frieza and Shuyo passed by Aayla, the Securan warrior could have sworn the Frost Demon winked at her in passing, snapping her from her pleasant thoughts.

'Fine but don't wear yourself out we still have some catching up to do as well' Aayla replied back with the sultriest voice her mind could form.

Clearly that took Frieza off guard as his head snapped around to look at the azure beauty before he slammed straight into the wall of the training grounds. Slightly dazed from the impact Frieza tumbled out of the air spinning around before landing on his feet. 'Smooth' Aayla mentally called out to the Frost Demon as she turned around to charge his brother with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Appearing on Frieza's right side Shuyo closed in with an elbow strike connecting with Frieza's temple knocking him off balance. As the Frost Prince regained his balance Shuyo was already on him once again throwing combinations. Quickly adapting to the situation Frieza went on the defensive ducking, dodging and spinning out of the green monk's attack pattern.

As the sparring continued Frieza grinned at the monk's stone like expression. "You know I'm quite pleased that you decided to stay with us" Frieza said as he ducked a straight right and countered with leg sweep that Shuyo jumped away from.

"As am I, I prefer this to your brother's alternative." Shuyo responded as he cupped his hands together for a powerful axe handle.

"Let me guess, out the airlock?" Frieza asked as he raised his guard to defend once again before spinning around for a high kick.

"No sooner than five minutes on board and he was already demanding that your girlfriend throw me out" Shuyo grinned as Frieza came to a screeching halt.

"She is not my girlfriend, she is my… bodyguard!" Frieza exclaimed taking a moment to think of what Aayla was to him.

"Oh, of course" Shuyo smiled as he landed a nasty punch flush to the Frost Demon's chin sending him spinning into the wall once again. "By the way, you may want to pay attention against me" Shuyo grinned as he positioned himself in front of his sparring partner. The green monk had to admit that when there wasn't the threat of death, sparring with the tyrant was quite enjoyable.

"Very well let's get serious then" Frieza grinned back cracking his neck. In a flash both fighters charged towards each other. Both warriors clashed in the center of the training room, neither wanting to give the other an inch.

Up above both Cooler and Aayla had put aside their own match to watch the pair below. "Well they seem to be enjoying themselves" Cooler chuckled as the two combatants attacked each other ferociously. Turning his head towards the Securan warrior beside him Cooler asked in a bored tone "so should we tell him?"

"I'm sure he'll figure it out… sooner or later" Aayla chuckled as the match continued across the training room. Shuyo was throwing precision strikes that forced Frieza to dodge more often than naught and so their fight was being taken in every direction as the mystery monk tried his best to pin down Frieza's position.

Of course while all of this high velocity movement, spinning and sudden elevation changes were nothing new for the Frost Prince, his involuntary passenger was a different story. "Frieza… ugh… please s-stop I want off!" Weiss pleaded, the poor girl was still wrapped in Frieza's powerful tail and so as the Frost Demon sparred with Shuyo he was dragging his young protégé along for the entire ride. The problem was that Frieza was so engrossed in his fight with Shuyo that he had not only forgotten about the young Demoness but had blocked out almost all exterior distractions. So the helpless girl was forced to grit her teeth and bare it as her skin steadily darkened into a sickly green.

The two fighters were going at it at such an incredible speed that Aayla had trouble keeping her eyes on the fight. After both of them reappeared from fighting at hypersonic speed she managed to catch a glimpse of Weiss' face before they disappeared once again. Knowing Frieza wasn't about to respond to anything outside of his fight at the moment Aayla called out to him mentally.

'Frieza you better stop now' Aayla called out to him knowing he would get her message.

'What for? I have him on the ropes' Frieza chuckled as he picked up speed trying to catch the green monk off guard.

'That's not what I mean, you better stop because of Weiss' Aayla replied as both fighters connected with punches simultaneously.

'What, is Weiss about to join in?' Frieza chuckled once again as he landed with a loud thud.

'No she's been with you the whole time, turn arou-' Aayla never did get to finish her thought as the sound of horrendous retching echoed through the training room followed by a sickening splash. The sight and smell alone brought Shuyo to a complete halt to stare at the pair of Frost Demons with a mix of apprehension and disgust.

"Perhaps we should have intervened sooner" Cooler stated flatly as he crinkled his nose to block the rising odour that was beginning to fill the room.

"Yeah my bad" Aayla replied guiltily as she landed next to the pair of Demons, she couldn't decide who looked worse. Weiss was hanging limply from Frieza's tail, her normally rose skin was now a mix of almost every shade of green imaginable and she was moaning softly as she cradled her head. Then there was Frieza who stood statue still as the contents of Weiss' breakfast dripped slowly off his back.

The tension in the air was so thick you would need a sword to cut through it as everyone watched to see how the normally volatile Frost Demon would respond. Cooler expected a tantrum, Aayla expected disgruntled sarcasm and Shuyo couldn't fathom what to expect. What they received however was more shocking than any of them could have believed.

Frieza burst out into hysterical laughter as he gently let go of Weiss placing her down on the ground away from the pile of bile. "I'm sorry my dear I forgot you were there" Frieza chuckled as he patted the groaning girl's forehead. After making sure Weiss wasn't injured Frieza gently picked her up and walked up to the ship's intercom system. "Paging Tukkan clean up in the training room" Frieza snickered as he turned around and carried the ill girl outside.

Cooler, Aayla and Shuyo were left behind completely dumbstruck at what they had just transpired. There were few in the universe who could stay calm after being puked on let alone openly laugh about it. There was no way in hell Frieza was one of those people, at least that's what the three thought as they tried to process what had just happened.

"What the hell was that?" Cooler finally spoke through his pinched nose.

"Beats the hell out of me" Aayla responded, she was having trouble wrapping her head around what she just saw. It was true Frieza was making huge strides in becoming a better person (whether he knew it or not) this however was just unsettling. Despite the feelings of unease Aayla couldn't lie, she did enjoy the idea of Frieza making another massive leap into being the good person she knew he could be.

"Hey there Frieza how's it… UGH WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"Tukkan's horrified voice rang from outside, signalling it was time for the three other warriors to vacate the training room.

* * *

Considering he just had someone vomit all over his back Frieza felt surprisingly calm as felt the shower water rush over him. It was moments like these that the Frost Prince was able to use to look back on the events that had happened to him. Despite the cheery façade he was displaying for his crew, on the inside Frieza was grappling with a myriad of emotions that he desperately wanted to keep in check. Anger towards that roach Seluba who was now dead, grief over the loss of his own people but the worst part was the guilt that threatened to consume him. He had won the fight damn it, the bug was in more pieces than Frieza could count. Frieza had let his guard down confident that the fight was over but the retched insect used one of Frieza's own tactics against him.

In truth Frieza knew that this whole mess was his fault, not just the fight but the invasion in general. While yes Frieza's father was the one to run the empire, the elder Frost Demon had been content to run things from behind the scenes leaving his son's to be the face of the PTO. His father was more than willing to simply tax the hell out of his subjects and let them go about their daily lives. Frieza on the other hand had taken the power given to him and went wild with it. He was the one who struck fear into the heart of the galaxy itself, he was the one who vaporized planets on a whim, Frieza was the reason the people rebelled. And so Frieza knew that he was the reason he lost his home.

 _Tyrants and despots may seem invincible for a time, but they will always fall, it is our heroes who are immortalized._

His mother's words ran through his head as the water continued to run down his face. She was right, he had believed himself invincible and the past year was solid proof that he had been dead wrong. It was strange Frieza had gone years without thinking of his late mother and yet in the past year, ever since his defeat at the hands of Goku, there wasn't a day where she didn't show up in his mind. Sometimes it was a fond memory he thought lost to time, sometimes it was his own thoughts on how his mother would handle a situation. It didn't matter which form she took because it always had the same effect, a strange mix of uplifting his spirits while simultaneously flooding him with guilt.

"I guess even a monster can miss their mother" Frieza chuckled as he placed his hands against the shower wall letting the water run down his sore back.

"That might just be the sweetest thing I've ever heard you say" a voice called out from behind the Frost Demon.

"Damn it Aayla get out of here I'm naked!" Frieza shouted at the Securan warrior who was leant against the bathroom wall with her arms crossed.

"Frieza when are you not naked?" Aayla quipped back to the irritated Frost Demon, a smug smile placed firmly on her face. She strolled forward throwing a towel to Frieza who caught it as he turned off the shower. Glancing down towards her partner's waist she raised an eyebrow and smiled even wider "so I got to ask where's your… well you know?" Aayla flicked her gaze back up to the Frost Demon's face just as he realised what she was talking about.

Frieza's face quickly reddened as he realised what she was referring to "I would rather not have this discussion right now Aayla." As he stiffly dried his body with the towel he saw the smirk on the Securan's face out of the corner of his eye, knowing she wouldn't let it go he groaned before turning his attention back to her. "If you are so desperate to know our… reproductive organs… are stored internally until… until they are needed." That sentence brought back unpleasant memories of having a sit down with his father decades prior, it was one of the only times the bastard had been a real father.

Sensing the flash of anger through their bond Aayla's expression shifted to a more worried one as she placed her hand comfortingly on Frieza's shoulder. "So what's eating you champ?"

"I have no idea what you mean I'm fine" Frieza stated rigidly as they exited his bathroom and entered his private quarters. They were surprisingly sparse considering who the occupant was, then again they hadn't really had a chance to pack before the planet exploded.

Wrapping her arm around his shoulder Aayla led the moody Frost Prince to his bed before sitting side by side. "Now your little act may have the rest of the crew fooled but try to remember I can feel what's going on up here" Aayla tapped the side of Frieza's head to emphasize the point she was making. "You've been like an emo teenager ever since you got out of the bacta tank" Aayla stated as Frieza growled in annoyance.

"I told you already I'm fine" Frieza huffed as he turned his head away from the azure beauty.

"My point exactly" Aayla chuckled as she noticed the pink tinge on Frieza's usually ivory cheeks. "So why don't you tell me what's eating you, you know it stays with me and no one else" Aayla had now started rubbing Frieza's back to try and goad him into accepting her request.

Sighing Frieza turned around now sitting cross-legged on his bed the ruby sheets a stark contrast to his ivory skin. For a solid minute Frieza stared off into nothing trying to put his feelings into words to best express them. Across from him Aayla had also adjusted her own position facing her partner, legs also crossed as her head tail gently waved back and forth against the soft cloth. She could feel the turmoil in his head so she knew that it could take a while before he was able to formulate his thoughts, so she did the only thing she could, she waited patiently.

After what felt like an eternity Frieza finally slumped before throwing his arms out in either direction. "I destroyed the only place I've been able to call home" Frieza moaned before placing his face down in both hands. "Mother wanted Cooler and I to be leaders, to bring our people to new heights of greatness. Instead I caused the destruction of our ancestral home and our race is now on the brink of extinction."

Aayla had dealt with Frieza for more than a year at this point and in that time she had learned that he could be just as emotional as anyone else in the universe, maybe even a little more so. At worst she had to deal with his temper, which had abated somewhat over the course of a year. There was also the excessive pride which he always had, she was totally fine with that as he exuded astonishing amounts of confidence in almost every situation. She had not been prepared for this level of grief and self-defamation, luckily she had been dealing with something very similar with Weiss for the past two weeks so she was surprisingly prepared.

Gently raising Frieza`s head so his eyes were locked with her own, Aayla gave him her most comforting reassuring smile. She then proceeded to slap the ever loving hell out of him for ten straight seconds "you need to snap out of this crap" Aayla commanded as she once again held the Frost Demon's head in her hands.

Frieza just stared back dumbfounded at what had just happened "what?"

"What happened with Fuar is not your fault idiot, now I know you're putting on a happy face for the others but I know you're losing it on the inside." Aayla pulled Frieza into a hug, something no one had done since was a small child. "Trust me there's nothing worse than blaming yourself for something that was out of your control to begin with."

Images of the family disappearing before his eyes in a pillar of fire flashed through his mind "I could have done more."

"Then do more from now on, we've missed our leader" Aayla smiled as she separated from Frieza and got up. "The training room's clean by the way, Tukkan's not happy but he got it done and Weiss is taking a nap after you took her for that little joyride." She held out her hand for him to take, which he did, if a little guardedly.

"Thank you, I think I'll go for a walk help clear my head" Frieza muttered as the two left his quarters.

"What I didn't slap you enough?" Aayla teased. Frieza couldn't help but smile at the azure beauty, she had the most uncanny ability to raise his spirits. They came to a branch in the hallway where Aayla turned right and Frieza was to turn left, stopping for the briefest of moments Frieza had the sudden urge to follow the Securan. Frowning at his own indecisiveness Frieza turned back around and headed down the left path it seemed there was more on his mind than he had originally thought.

* * *

Strolling down the halls of The Nemesis was surprisingly relaxing. Nadan had thought of almost everything when designing the ship including the pale blue lighting in the halls. The cool lighting was not so bright to be blinding yet still kept the area evenly lit. The colour itself was easy on the eyes and had a welcoming feel to it. The Malakan prodigy had even gone as far as placing heating units in the floor to keep the durasteel warm to those in the group that didn't wear shoes.

Frieza had now performed three laps of the ship on his walk and in that time he put Aayla's words to serious thought. He shouldn't blame himself for the planet's destruction he had in fact done his best during the battle, he fought tooth and nail and he had believed he had won. Of course that was not the case but dwelling on it would not bring back the dead. It was on his second lap of the ship that he came to the conclusion that moving forward was the only healthy option available.

The only question remaining however was what to do? Fuar was gone and so were its people. The PTO was now in shambles and spread thinly across the universe with almost it's entire hierarchy now gone. Frieza had to give the bug a little credit he timed that attack to perfection, every single high ranking official had been planetside when the attack commenced. It didn't matter that the GFM's entire fleet was wiped out because the entire leadership of the Empire was now also gone. There was a chance that some had turned tail and ran at the first sight of trouble, if there were such cowardly fools out in the cosmos Frieza would have a few words with them if he located them.

Coming to a halt Frieza leaned up against the wall his tail gently rapping against the paneling, a dull smack echoed through the hall with each hit. First thing's first The Nemesis needed to be restocked, fuel, food, water and other incidental supplies. The ship wasn't exactly stocked for a galactic voyage before the battle, at best it had a month's worth of supplies stored and they had already been out there for two weeks now. Perhaps after that they would search out Frost Demons who had been off world during the incident, one thing was for sure they would need to stop at a garrison to get as much information on the status of the PTO. They had unfortunately been somewhat out of the loop the last few weeks.

"Will you stop that infernal noise brother?!" Cooler shouted as he stuck his head out of his own living quarters. It took Frieza a second before he realised his tail was still drumming against the wall behind him leaving a noticeable indent in the pristine surface.

The two brothers stared each other down neither one budging seeing who would cave first. With a smirk Frieza slammed his tail once more into the side of the hallway with a resounding smack.

"Isn't there something else you could be doing now brother, preferably far away from here" Cooler sighed at his brother's immaturity. Cooler side stepped out of his quarters cracking his neck as he did so "you know I think your girlfriend might actually hit harder than you." Cooler chuckled at the annoyed expression on his little brother's face.

"Bodyguard" Frieza replied back flatly crossing his arms as he did so.

Cooler simply smiled and shook his head at his siblings naivety "whatever, now get explaining I could handle you pacing around the ship endlessly but I am going to draw the line at you making such a racket at this hour." Cooler had now crossed his own arms and was also leaning against the wall.

"I just needed to clear my head so I decided to go for a little stroll, is that alright? I can walk around my own ship right?" Frieza fired back heart to hearts with Aayla was one thing, she was easy to talk to and to get along with. Cooler was a different story, perhaps it was because they were siblings or perhaps it was because their father had tried to pit them against one another for most of their childhood. Either way it made discussions with the level headed Frost Demon far more difficult.

Sighing to himself Cooler waved Frieza onwards "well then what's got you pacing around the ship so late?" Cooler felt like he had a good idea of what was going through his brother's head but it couldn't hurt to confirm it instead of making an assumption.

"I've been trying to decide how we're going to proceed from here on." Frieza stated. "Obviously we need to resupply the ship, but from there I don't know which direction we should go."

Cooler leveled his gaze with Frieza, it was a strange thing to witness Cooler had never known his brother to be so indecisive, he usually knew exactly what he wanted to do and how he would do it. "Have you thought about finding the remainder of our people?" Cooler responded garnering a small nod from his brother.

"Of course I have, but it won't be the same, I know we had established a few colonies across the universe but none of them are substantial enough to properly keep our population sustained." Frieza had done some of the calculations in his head, he could double check with Nadan but he knew that if his math was off it wasn't by much. The Frost Demons, a race of beings as old as the universe itself were now an endangered species, Frieza found it somewhat amusing in a morbid sort of way.

"There must be a way around this, to undo the damage done, we are the most powerful beings in the universe surely we can save our race." Cooler rubbed his temple as he searched his mind for any way out of their predicament, as much as he hated to admit it Frieza was right there people would simply dwindle away over time.

Frieza snorted as he chuckled at his brother's comment "oh yes undo the damage let me just push what's left of Fuar back together." Cooler stared back clearly not amused by his brother's attempt at melancholic humour.

"I get it" Cooler responded drily before Frieza held out a hand to stop him.

"No wait I know, we get a time machine and go back into the past and tell our past selves about the invasion ahead of time." Frieza continued to laugh at his own absurd humour, Cooler was beginning to think that the stress of the situation was finally causing his brother to snap. "Oh even better let's go find some wizard and he can use his… magic… to…" Frieza trailed off as his eyes widened in realisation. How could he have overlooked it, it was so obvious and it had been right in front of his face.

"Frieza?" Cooler called out to his brother waving his hand in front of his face. Grasping his brother by the shoulder he gave him a rough shake tearing the younger Frost Demon from his thoughts.

Grabbing Cooler by both of his shoulders Frieza started cackling with delight "we can use magic brother and I can get my revenge all at once!"

"What are you blathering about? You're not making any sense." Cooler gruffly removed his brother's hands from his shoulders before staring him down once again. "Explain" he commanded as Frieza smile grew as he contemplated their next moves.

"It's simple brother… we gather the Earth's Dragon Balls" Frieza spread his arms wide at the announcement expecting applause and fanfare, when none was given his expression quickly soured as he glared back at his brother, who was deep in thought at Frieza's idea.

"From what I was told about them that could work indeed, however if I remember correctly from the reports weren't the Earth's Dragon Balls rendered inactive after Vegeta's visit to the planet?" Cooler questioned, he was actually quite excited at the idea, however he would save the celebrations for when his kingdom, home and people had been restored.

"I thought so as well, that seemed to be the whole reason the Earthlings went to Namek in the first place… ugh it's so obvious I am furious that I didn't think of this sooner." Frieza looked up to see his brother's questioning gaze "back on Namek their dragon 'died' when that giant fat Namek finally keeled over."

Cooler was now waiting patiently for Frieza to continue as his brother gathered his thoughts. "During my fight with the super monkey the Namek dragon came back to life, then shortly after Vegeta showed up as did the Namekian boy the Earthlings had with them, both of whom I one hundred percent killed."

Cooler's eyes widened as began to piece Frieza's thoughts together "they couldn't have come back to life from the Namek dragon because it too had perished, meaning an external source brought them back to life."

Frieza nodded briskly "precisely, I'll bet you anything it was the Earth's Dragon Balls, and even if it wasn't then that means they still have access to something that can revive the dead."

"What makes you think that?" Cooler inquired as he pieced together all the information he had looked at about the supposedly magical orbs.

"During father's fight with the Earthling's do you remember seeing that short balled one that cut off father's arm?" Cooler nodded slowly he still didn't like thinking about that day, his father was a bastard but still Cooler couldn't say he wouldn't have tried to save him given the chance. "Well back on Namek I killed him, blew the little bastard into a million tiny pieces, no amount of Namek healing whatever could put him back together."

Cooler continued to nod before looking back to his brother "you're positive you killed him?"

Frieza scoffed as he waved his brother off "he was so dead it pushed the monkey to becoming a Super Saiyan, speaking of which if we go to Earth I can finally exact my vengeance against the monkeys." Frieza was back to laughing at the prospect of achieving both goals simultaneously. "Yes this whole trip will be quite salubrious for me hahaha!"

"Or quite fatal, you remember how they worked as a team and overwhelmed father?" Cooler replied back sternly. "We can't make the same mistakes as he did."

"Oh this will be quite different then father's fight, there's no way Goku would pass up a one on one shot against me if for no other reason than to improve his own skills." Frieza was practically hopping he was so happy "You, Ayala and Shuyo can hold off his friends so they don't interfere, I doubt they will because Goku would want what he calls a 'fair' fight."

"So we go to Earth, you have your revenge against the Super Saiyan then we have the Dragon Balls…" Cooler began before Frieza finished for him.

"And undo all the damage that has been caused and get our home and people back" Frieza declared triumphantly. Wrapping his arm around his brother's shoulders Frieza grinned as he lead him down the hall "come let's inform Nadan that we are heading to Earth immediately."

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T GO TO EARTH!?" Frieza roared angrily at the unflinching Malakan, who gazed back at the angered Frost Demon with barely veiled annoyance.

"Well my Lord there are actually a few reasons why we can't" Nadan replied curtly as he examined the inside of a cleaning drone. Before the Frost Demon could reply Nadan extended a finger in the air "firstly we are almost out of supplies and we are in desperate need to replenish our stores before any long trips."

"But don't we have enough supplies to last for a month? What happened to all the food?" Frieza inquired angrily clenching his fists in frustration.

"Tyr, my Lord, the boy's a Dramon their metabolic system is roughly three times that of the average person, so far he's eaten roughly twenty times his weight in food over the last two weeks, it's actually quite fascinate-" Frieza cut Nadan's anecdote off with his outstretched palm, while pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"I get it the kid a walking garbage disposal, but still The Nemesis should be able to cross the galaxy in under five days surely we can last until then?" Frieza pressed, this was a golden opportunity he could not let it slip through his grasp.

"Of course my Lord, it would be close but with the hyperdrive pushed to its limit we should just barely make it before we begin starving." Nadan admitted to which Frieza crossed his arms in victory.

"Excellent then let us-" Frieza began.

"The problem is the hyperdive is damaged beyond repair" Nadan had cut off Frieza who stared back incredulously. Nadan took a moment to close the back hatch of the cleaning drone before continuing with his explanation "that was the second reason why Earth is just not viable right now, we are currently stuck with just the main engines and a trip like that would take months to complete."

"Grrrr well how did the damn thing break?" Frieza demanded the vein in his head bulging as his plans fell apart before his eyes.

"Remember when you threw the ship into the atmosphere my Lord?" Nadan asked as he kicked the hatch of another drone open, Frieza nodded slowly recalling the massive strain he had sustained to hurl the ship into orbit with his mind. "Yes well that fried quite a bit of the electronics on the ship, we almost lost life support, our scanners were down for two days, our communications systems were down even longer, I still can't get the toilets flushing the correct direction, the espresso machine is still only capable of making lattes and as I mentioned earlier the hyperdrive is damaged beyond repair."

"So how do we fix it?" Frieza asked in exasperation.

"We need a new one as most of the current one was melted, there were some short circuits a fire broke out it was quite terrifying" Nadan drawled on as he poked around at the insides of the next cleaning drone.

"So we need to find a hyperdrive system that is compatible with the ship, great just great, are there any other reasons we can't go to Earth?" All of the Frost Demon's prior excitement had been utterly extinguished in the span of about two minutes.

"Yes but just one, I have no clue where Earth is" Nadan gave an approving nod to the last of the drones as it scooted away to perform its nightly routines.

"… What?" Frieza could have sworn he misheard that last one. "You should probably repeat that, I could have sworn you said you have no clue where Earth is."

"That's correct my Lord I tried checking up on its location a few weeks ago, I had a feeling you would want to go back so I thought I'd be prepared." Nadan had walked over to his work station where he sat back in his comfortable chair turning to the pair of Frost Demon's before him. "When I checked, there were no records whatsoever of any planet called Earth."

"That's impossible there must be something giving away its position." Frieza stated he couldn't believe that not only couldn't they reach the planet he so desperately wanted to go to, but apparently he was incapable of even finding the damn thing.

"Now I'm positive I spotted some information on the planet in the archives not long after you returned from Namek, but when I went back it was missing. So were the flight logs for the Saiyans attack pods that Prince Vegeta and his subordinates took, now there's really only one being in the entire PTO who could authorize the records to be completely expunged like that."

Realisation slowly dawned on Frieza as Nadan's words sunk in. "That son of a bitch! I'll kill him! If we ever gather the Dragon Balls I'll use the wish to bring that bastard back to life just so I can send him back to hell!" Frieza was positively seething, even from beyond the grave his father continued to get in his way. Frieza walked over to a chair and slumped down onto it feeling completely dejected, ten minutes ago the Frost Demon had believed he had the answer to all their problems but as it turned out it was just another set of obstacles.

Frieza felt the strong hand of his brother clasp his shoulder shaking him out of his stupor. Looking up he saw Cooler was smiling as he patted his brother's shoulder. "Look on the bright side brother, you weren't sure of what to do next and now we have a mission, we'll have the hyperdrive fixed, we'll stock up on supplies and we will locate Earth."

Something about Cooler's demeanour sparked something inside Frieza, grinning back he clasped his hand with his brother's. Both princes stood face to face grinning as if they were children again about to get up to all sorts of mischief. Cooler was right the plan was still sound, so what if it could take longer than expected, who cared if it was going to be a little more difficult to accomplish, that just meant victory would taste that much sweeter. As both brothers left Nadan's lab Frieza realised what it was he was feeling, it was the spark of excitement at the prospect of an adventure.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone another chapter down and we're back with some more action, not an all-out war but hopefully enough to tide you over. I wanted to try my hand at injecting a little more comedy in this chapter after all I don't want every chapter in this story to be needlessly grim dark.**

 **One of things I definitely tried to show more of is Frieza's relationship with Aayla, I tried to show off a little of how they function together not just in combat but also with just day to day stuff. People have asked if Aayla and Frieza are gonna be a thing all I can say I 100% ship them together (Is it considered shipping if I'm the one writing the story?).**

 **I love writing Cooler and Frieza's interactions, deep down they do in fact love each other. It's just they have so much crap stored up from their father's meddling that it's made it difficult for them to really bond.**

 **Another thing people have asked where we are currently sitting in the DBZ timeline and so far right now we are sitting at roughly a month after Trunks showed up to deliver his warning from the future. What does that mean you may ask well that means we now have three years in between now and the arrival of the androids, that's right folks that is a stupid long gap so be prepared for training, space adventures, Kessel Runs, milk runs and MOVIE VILLAINS! I feel like Frieza needs more time to mold himself into the hero we need but don't deserve. Also I love the idea of King Cold still screwing with his sons even from the grave so I just had to roll with it.**

 **I know we've been a little light on Shuyo this chapter but don't worry he's gonna get some more time in the following chapters including some one on one time with Frieza. I really want to explore the relationship they will form, it's gonna be a lot like what Goku and Piccolo have.**

 **If I forgot anything feel free to let me know I really hope you guys are enjoying the direction we're going with the story can you believe over 7000 views, I sometimes have trouble wrapping my head around it, you guys are so awesome.**

 **Remember if you got questions I got the answers, until next time readers stay beautiful!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Fun In The Sun

"Captain's log stardate 51993.7, it has now been four days since leaving the Fuar system in our search for the nearest habitable planet. Food has quickly become an issue with our already low food stores being rapidly depleted. My chief science officer Mr. Nadan says we are an hour away from the planet Dosturn, while not the most technologically advanced planet in the system it should serve as a good rest stop on our trek across the stars, I have personally dubbed this voyage the Grand Tour."

"There is so much wrong with everything you just said" Weiss mocked as she walked up to the Captain's chair aboard The Nemesis.

Peeking over the arm rest Raijin locked eyes with his friend before pouting "name one thing that I said that was quote unquote wrong." Raijin flexed his fingers above his head to punctuate his point.

"Well for starters you're about a thousand years off with that date of yours, also it's actually been five days since we left Fuar." Weiss was having fun watching Raijin slouch down in the captain's seat as she continued her list. "The planet we're heading to is actually Hermos, Dostrum was that planet we passed three days ago, you know the one with the carnivorous poison plants. Also Grand Tour? That's got to be the dumbest name you've come up with yet."

"Ugh I get it Weiss you can stop now, you got to go and ruin my fun every time" Raijin huffed as he slid out of the seat just as the doors to the bridge slid open.

Standing in the doorway was Shuyo, he had just gotten out of another training session with Frieza and Aayla and decided to head to the bridge. He always did enjoy watching as a ship made its landing and once he felt the energies of the people on the approaching planet he decided to excuse himself from the session. Those two could probably use the alone time anyway, Shuyo thought to himself.

"Hey Shuyo come to watch our landing too?" Raijin cheerily asked the stoic monk.

"I have, I've never been to Hermos before but I hear it's quite a unique place" Shuyo smiled as the orange planet loomed in the distance. Turning his attention back to the children Shuyo realised one of their group wasn't present. "Where's Tyr? You three are usually inseparable."

Weiss gave a very Frieza-like scoff as she turned back towards the viewport "that idiot's still in the kitchen stuffing his dumb face." She smacked the floor with her tail in agitation, Shuyo could hardly believe what he was seeing. Shuyo had now been aboard for roughly three weeks, during that time one of the things he had overheard was that Weiss had a tendency to imitate her mentor. Looking at the young Demoness before him Shuyo realised she was in fact a smaller version of the Frost Prince himself.

Shuyo felt a gentle nudge to the side of his waist catching his attention, looking down he saw a grinning Raijin now standing beside him. "She totally likes him, she just hates it when he pigs out like that, she thinks it's uncivilised" Raijin's snickering was quickly brought to an end when Weiss appeared an inch in front of the cerulean eyed youth.

"Care to repeat that" Weiss hissed crossing her arms threateningly.

"Eep" Raijin squeaked as he turned tail and sprinted out of bridge at full speed, a gust of wind following behind him as he took off.

"It was nice seeing you again Shuyo" Weiss smiled at the monk who returned the gesture. "Now if you'll excuse me" Weiss then departed the bridge as well, walking at a leisurely pace, stalking her prey.

Chuckling to himself Shuyo turned his attention back to the approaching circumbinary planet, its twin suns shone brightly in the distance, it truly was a breathtaking sight. The thought of exploring the magnificent planet before him was exciting. Finding new planets he had never been to was one of Shuyo's favourite activities, every planet was a different marvel and he couldn't wait to set foot on such a majestic world.

Shuyo had to take it back, Hermos sucked, as he trudged through the shady marketplace with Weiss, Raijin and Tyr in tow Shuyo could only grumble at how quickly his mood had shifted. The problem with Hermos, apart from looking eerily similar to Veibos in terms of shady atmosphere, was the heat the twin suns in the sky put out, it made walking through the claustrophobic stalls almost unbearable. Then there was the sand, Shuyo had visited countless worlds but one thing remained a constant during those trips, he absolutely hated the sand. It was coarse, rough and irritating plus the damn stuff got everywhere, one of the downfalls of wearing long flowing robes. Not to mention his shoes were not designed to walk on such a surface and so he often stumbled into irritable locals who shouted back at him in their native tongue.

The whole trip so far was taking far longer than the monk expected, it should have been a straight forward mission. The plan had been simple they had a massive list of supplies to obtain and so to make use of their numbers they decided to split up Frieza and Aayla headed north, Nadan and Tukkan took to the south, Cooler went east leaving Shuyo to proceed west. Of course the children wanted to come along and by the time they had voiced their desires the three other groups had already departed, leaving Shuyo to babysit.

Sensing his companions lagging behind Shuyo turned to see that they had stopped at a merchant stall and were excitedly talking to the owner in galactic standard. He arrived at the stall just in time to see the merchant handing Weiss a pale blue parasol, glancing over at the register Shuyo's complexion paled at the price.

"Please tell me you didn't actually spend that much on an umbrella?" Shuyo grimaced as Weiss twirled her purchase above her head.

"For your information this is an Elan Vytal Designer Parasol and I just got it for a quarter of what it goes retail." Weiss smirked at the unimpressed look Shuyo was giving her, he had made the mistake of letting her hold onto the credit chip. It had seemed like a good idea at the time after all his robes didn't have pockets whereas she carried her handbag almost everywhere she went plus the girl did seem to be the most 'responsible' of the three.

"In our defense Shuyo we told her it's probably a counterfeit" Raijin stated doing his best to appear apologetic while simultaneously hiding something behind his back.

"Yeah… coun… counter… fake" Tyr gasped, his heightened metabolism already kept his core temperature well above average and in the scorching heat of the twins suns it was clearly taking its toll on him.

"I assure you friends I only sell top quality merchandise, definitely not fake" the merchant responded giving them his best winning smile and a thumbs up. Shuyo didn't even have to read this idiot's mind to know he was full of it.

Turning angrily to the shady dealer Shuyo pointed a menacing finger at him, back on Veibos there was never a shortage of swindlers and hoodlums tricking people to make a few extra credits. Shuyo had always hated those disingenuous tricksters and that feeling had only intensified as he traversed the universe. "Listen here you will reverse that transaction and give the money back-" Shuyo would have continued if not for the loud groan followed by an even louder thud from the monk's right.

"Tyr!" Weiss cried out worriedly turning over the prone Dramon who had collapsed face first. The heat must have finally gotten to him, sweat was pouring from the boy in rivers and he was panting profusely as he cooked under the sweltering heat. The boy had put up a strong front, doing his best to seem unfazed but clearly he had reached his limit.

Acting quickly Shuyo knelt beside the trio and examined the boy's vitals. His pulse was faint and slightly erratic, he seemed to have fallen into a state of unconsciousness and the sweat continued to run in rivers out of the boys pours glistening off the black scales that ran down his arm. His energy was the most worrying thing to the monk his power was already dangerously low and dropping quickly. Wasting no more time Shuyo gathered the boy in his arms his tail hanging limply to this side.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked as Shuyo straightened out.

"I need to get him to the ship he needs water, food and rest otherwise he might not make it" Shuyo stated matter-of-factly. He knew the two wouldn't like to hear it but heat stroke was no laughing matter, it could affect even the most powerful beings in the universe if not careful.

"And what pray tell will you be feeding him? Last time we checked he had eaten the last of the reserves for breakfast this morning." Weiss raised an eyebrow with a questioning look. When Shuyo provided no response Weiss continued twirling her new parasol over her shoulder "let me take him back I can get him water and rest but he still needs food so someone needs to be out here to continue looking."

Her logic was sound if the others were unsuccessful obtaining the food they needed then Tyr would be out of luck. "Very well" Shuyo stated as he crouched down letting Weiss grab her unconscious friend.

"Don't worry I'll keep him in the shade" she said cheerily as her tail coiled around the handle of the now open parasol. She quickly handed the credit chip over to Raijin who gingerly held it in his hands "you stay with Shuyo and make sure to help him if he needs it" she instructed before turning away. Holding Tyr bridal style she took to the air back from where they came making sure to keep the shade from her foolish purchase covering her sickly friend.

"I was not prepared for today" Shuyo sighed to himself as he turned around to continue his search. Raijin quickly came up beside him with a sheepish look on his face as he walked side by side with the stoic monk. Glancing down at his remaining partner brought a small smirk to Shuyo "so what did she get you?" he asked slyly.

Raijin's purple skin made traditional blushing impossible but Shuyo could see his face darken as he reached into his pocket extracting a set of interlocking metal rings. "It's a ring puzzle, I used to have one back at the orphanage before…" Raijin trailed off reminiscing of the place he Weiss and Tyr had called home. The place was not necessarily the nicest place in the universe but it was home and the people there didn't deserve what had befallen them during the attacks.

Sensing the boy's somber mood and seeing how sullen his face had become Shuyo placed a comforting hand on the long necked child's shoulder. Looking back up Raijin smiled at his towering companion. He was eternally grateful to Frieza for taking the three of them in, feeding them and genuinely providing them with the one thing the trio had desired for years, a family. And by the look of things the green monk was quickly becoming the newest addition to that family.

After another hour of searching, questioning, haggling and in one unfortunate case, intimidating the duo of Shuyo and Raijin had finally found what seemed to be a promising source of food. Walking up to the counter Shuyo tapped on the surface to gather the shopkeeper's attention. He was a bored looking Yardrat and was flipping through an old magazine his eyes clearly unfocused not truly taking in what he was 'reading.'

After the initial tapping failed to garner the Yardrat's attention Shuyo decided to get a little more vocal "excuse me, we were told this was the place to acquire large amounts of bulk food." Silence was all that followed with the Yardrat still staring at the magazine with a vacant expression on his face. Shuyo looked back to Raijin in confusion who could only shrug his shoulders at the shopkeeper's bizarre behaviour. Looking back to man behind the desk Shuyo tried again, more determined than before "can you hear me? I said we are here for food in bulk."

But even with his raised voice the Yardrat payed him no heed slowly flipping a page over, well at least he's actually alive Shuyo thought to himself. That was when he noticed the small translucent sphere of white Ki bobbing up and down beside the Yardrat's head. Looking back over his shoulder he could see the grinning Zamt place a finger over his mouth telling Shuyo to stay quiet. Before Shuyo could respond Raijin squeezed his hand together and the sphere that was less than an inch from the Yardrat's ear released its energy with a shrill pop.

That seemed to get the shopkeeper's attention as the previously unresponsive Yardrat nearly jumped out of his skin. Swinging his head wide his gaze settled on the duo before him, a scowl quickly passed over his face as he took in their strange appearance. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice was shrill yet at the same time gravely.

Pinching the bridge of his nose Shuyo tried for the third time to explain their needs to the, apparently, elderly Yardrat. "We just need-" Shuyo was cut off mid-sentence as the shopkeeper raised a hand to stop him.

"You're gonna have to speak up there boy, my hearing's not what it used to be." The Yardrat called out, practically shouting despite being only three feet away from each other.

Scowling once again Shuyo tried for a fourth time "we hear you have access to large stores of f-" Once again the stoic monk was cut off by the shopkeeper's outstretched hand.

"You got to annunciate your words boy I can barely understand you!" he jeered at the monk who was quickly losing his temper, which he usually had a much better time controlling. Everything about this planet just didn't sit well with the monk. It was hot, there was sand everywhere, every drunk outside wanted to pick a fight, he strongly believed the air was in some way toxic and now he was wasting his time with a near deaf shopkeeper trying to purchase food that he might not even carry. Clearly this day had taken a turn for the worse the moment their crew had made planetfall.

Slamming his hand down on the counter Shuyo glared at the shopkeeper with fire in his eyes "YOU HAVE FOOD!" Shuyo practically shouted at the top of his lungs as he pointed at the shopkeeper to help get his point across. "WE WANT TO BUY FOOD!" He now held out the credit chip as he pointed to himself to emphasize that point as well.

After a brief, hopeful moment Shuyo actually believed his words made it to the elderly Yardrat. "Sorry boy the masseuses won't be in for another four hours" he shrugged as Shuyo rested his face in the palm of his hand to gather himself. Pulling out the list of materials provided by Nadan, the green monk slapped down the list in front of Yardat pointing at the food they would require to sustain themselves on their voyages.

Taking a moment to realise what he was looking at the Yardrat suddenly exclaimed "OH! You want food why didn't you just say so boy?" The twitch in Shuyo's left eye was barely detectable, but the sharp cerulean eyes of his Zamt partner didn't miss a thing, eliciting a chuckle from the long necked youth.

After deciding, for everyone's sake, that it would be best to communicate through the datapad's notepad function, the exchange between them went quite smoothly. "Alright son this should be enough to last you a couple months before you need a restock even with a Dramon on board" the shopkeeper declared waving his hand at the massive pile of boxes and containers behind him.

Bowing respectfully Shuyo quickly typed out a message of thanks on the datapad before walking towards the massive pile of supplies they had acquired. Sidling up beside him Raijin gently scratched the side of his head as he gazed over the towering stack. "So how are we supposed to get all this back to the ship in one piece?"

"I… Umm… that's a good question" turning around back to the Yardrat, Shuyo was about to ask if he could assist with carrying away the containers. Just as he turned around he saw the shopkeeper had two fingers to his forehead and suddenly he disappeared leaving no trace that he was there to begin with. "WHAT?!" Shuyo exclaimed snapping his head back and forth trying to locate the Yardrat, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Raijin you saw that right?" he asked the young Zamt.

"Yeah I saw it but… let's just get out of here" Raijin nervously turned back to the mountain of supplies. "Again though how do we deal with this?"

"I have an idea but… well it can't hurt to try" Shuyo chuckled as he pulled out the communicator he had been given.

Glancing at the name on the screen Raijin began to laugh nervously "are you sure? You can't really be sure with him."

* * *

While he had said he would go out and search for the supplies they needed Cooler had other things in mine. He had been stuck in a confined space with his little brother as well as Shuyo for roughly three weeks now and he needed to get some air. So as Cooler kicked up his feet and stretched out on the lawn chair he had acquired he smiled feeling the heat from the twin suns warm him.

It was actually quite nice out all things considered, along the way Cooler had 'borrowed' the lawn chair from someone's balcony and stopped at a shop to pick up a case of frozen treats the locals called Kryn'taj. Reaching down Cooler opened the case and grabbed one of the frozen treats, it was a lime green ball with little flecks of gold spread across its surface. At first Cooler eyed the treat suspiciously but then recalled the group of children who were excitedly munching on them back in the bazaar.

Popping it into his mouth Cooler bit down on the icy treat, his teeth broke through the outer frigid shell before sinking into the soft nectar inside. It was amazing! The inside was a delicious fluid, it had the consistency of syrup but tasted like an incredibly sweet fruit. He could see why such a confection would be so sought after on such a planet.

Resting his head back Cooler closed his eyes feeling the sun warm up his body, his tail swishing lazily from side to side. "This is much better" Cooler chuckled to himself, at first he was coming out to the rocky plateau to skulk and brood but he quickly changed his mind deciding upon a far more enjoyable way to pass the time. He was far from any city so the only sounds were the gentle breeze and the occasional insect flying by his ear.

His smile soon turned to a frown as he sighed to himself, grabbing another Kryn'taj he spun the treat around in his hand before dropping it into his mouth. "Salza would have loved these" Cooler sighed to himself as once again his thoughts were drawn to his armoured squadron. He looked at the massive expanse around him taking in its majestic rocky beauty "Dore would have loved this view and the weather would have been perfect for Neiz, he always did like these dry heats."

This wasn't the first time Cooler had thought of the trio since the battle's conclusion. While Cooler said he blamed Shuyo for their deaths, that wasn't completely true. There were two others he blamed more than the green monk the first was obviously Seluba. Once he had woken from his state of unconsciousness he had learned that the rotten cockroach had obliterated the trio who had been disabled and set aside by Shuyo. The problem with that though was that Cooler couldn't exactly have his revenge against a dead man and so he had been robbed of that sense of vengeance.

The second person he blamed more than Shuyo was himself. Cooler was no fool he had been exhausted from the battle and knew he probably couldn't have done much in the fight other than get in the way. That didn't change the fact he could have grabbed them and brought them to safety. Maybe if he could have taken a few minutes he could have fought alongside his brother and Fuar would not have suffered the fate it had. Hypothetical questions had become the bane of Cooler's existence, nothing but what ifs and could have beens.

Popping another treat into his mouth Cooler sighed as the ice cold interior made its way down his throat. He couldn't exact the vengeance he desired as its recipient was now very dead and Cooler was not one for self-loathing so hating himself would get him nowhere. That just left Shuyo, the green monk had in fact done quite a bit to seal the planet's fate. He had worn out both Frieza and himself to the point where they were not fighting at 100% allowing the Crodan to gain the upper hand if just temporarily. He had incapacitated Dore, Salza and Neiz which lead to their deaths. And from what they had learned from the monk himself his very presence seemed to bolster the GFM's morale giving their troops the will to launch the planetary assault in the first place.

But the thing that ate at Cooler more than anything was that Shuyo was, at the end of the day, a traitor. It was an odd thought process to be sure as Shuyo turned traitor on the GFM to join with his brother. But the fact remained traitors were unknown quantities, unpredictable and as far as Cooler was concerned traitors deserved nothing more than an ignominious death.

Scowling at himself Cooler shook his head to clear his thoughts, he had hoped to come here to relax, true at first he was coming to the isolated location to brood but he had changed his mind pretty quickly on that notion.

Grabbing another Kryn'taj Cooler tried to focus on the positives, he had been sulking for over three weeks now and he was quite tired of it. Ever since his brother's return everyone seemed to be in high spirits, despite Tyr clearing out through their food stores. Cooler's thoughts drifted to the rest of the crew and specifically to Aayla. Cooler had heard the story of what his father put her through using her to spy on Frieza, and then once he was done with her he simply destroyed her world before her very eyes. The thought of such treachery from his father left a bad taste in his mouth but not one he wasn't familiar with. That was always how his father operated he would use you for whatever he needed and then once you had run your course he tossed you aside.

But that still left Aayla as a traitor, she had betrayed Frieza's trust in her as well as everyone else's. yet here she was now a prominent member of the crew and trusted by everyone there, she had quickly become the matriarch of the group. And if Frieza of all people could learn how to forgive someone for actively betraying him then surely Cooler could learn to trust someone who had betrayed their own side to join theirs.

Also it wasn't like Shuyo did it to gain power or to obtain a higher standing, the green monk had done it because he saw the side he was on as being in the wrong. Perhaps he should cut the monk some more slack after all from what he had been told Shuyo had more than proved that he was trustworthy, he had been the one to locate Frieza after all.

Reaching down Cooler looked to grab another treat only to find the container empty. "Guess I ate more than I thought" Cooler chuckled to himself as he leaned back in his chair. It was then that he heard the communicator on his wrist beep, looking down he saw the one attempting to contact him was the green monk himself. "And I guess I can try to be a little less hostile to you" Cooler smirked as he accepted the incoming call.

* * *

"You are a complete idiot" Weiss stated as she lay Tyr down in his bed for the third time that hour.

"I really thought I could handle it, I feel great!" Tyr exclaimed, he gave a shaky thumb's up in a vain attempt to convince the Frost Demoness. Weiss simply crossed her arms and stared down her weakened friend until he finally gave in pouting as his head hit the pillow. "You know you don't have to be such an ice queen all the time."

"For your information I'm not all the time, just with you" Weiss smirked as Tyr rolled on his side.

"Well why do I get the special treatment?" He complained his voice partially muffled by the covers.

"Because dunce" she tapped the top of his head eliciting a pained groan from the young Dramon. "It's the only thing that gets through that scaly head of yours." Weiss' smirk widened as she heard the offended huff of her companion.

They had arrived back on The Nemesis about an hour and a half ago and it started off well enough. Weiss had immediately gathered as many ice packs as she could find and placed them inside Tyr's bed effectively chilling the entire frame. For the first half an hour Tyr had been asleep, he didn't make so much as a peep but then he woke up. Weiss had then spent the next hour in a sick game of hide and seek as the moment Tyr felt like he had enough strength he would take off not wanting to 'waste his day' by staying in bed.

The first time Weiss had found the energetic Dramon in the kitchen, passed out with his hand on the food storage area. Apparently he forgot that he had already cleared out their stores, or perhaps the intense heat had already cooked his brain Weiss thought to herself. The second time she had found him passed out in the ventilation system, why? Tyr had only told her it was a secret before promptly losing consciousness once again. On Tyr's third escape attempt Weiss was ready and no longer playing around quickly grabbing him by the tail as he tried to duck into a grate in the floor to do who knows what in the bowels of the ship.

And here they were now, Tyr once again in bed, no doubt planning his next escape attempt, and Weiss trying her absolute best not to kill him. He just didn't seem to get it he had heat stroke, he needed rest and to rehydrate, she had practically emptied a pitcher of water down his throat when they first made it aboard.

"Wwweeeiiissssss I'm hungry!" Tyr whined much to the Frost Demoness' irritation. He always got like this, for as long as she had known the Dramon any time he got sick or was exceptionally tired he got unbearably whiny.

"Well who's the one who ate all of the food?" Weiss inquired as Tyr turned over again to face her.

"That was a group effort, we all ate exactly the amount we all needed to" Tyr grinned at the annoyed twitch of Weiss' eye.

"Look the others are out getting food right now, all you have to do is wait and they will be back got it?" Weiss was getting fed up with the whiny child act, Tyr may have been her best friend along with Raijin but she knew there were times when he needed to be put in his place. "You are going to stay in this bed, cool down and drink lots of water or I will knock you out and throw you in the freezer" Weiss cracked her knuckles menacingly to emphasize her point. It might sound bad but Frieza had, both directly and indirectly, taught her quite a bit about intimidation and coercion.

Tyr slid back down finally looking defeated, he loved bugging the Frost Demoness but even he knew when and where to draw the line. The look on the young girl's face told him she was no longer playing, and he would prefer it if she didn't knock him out cold, knowing just how much stronger she was than him.

Adopting a softer expression she bent over feeling Tyr's forehead to see how hot he was. He was still burning up but she could tell there had been a marginal improvement in his condition. "I'm going to go get you a refill on your water alright, please stay here, I don't want to have to chase after you again." Grabbing the empty pitcher she began to leave, however before she made it to the door she was stopped by Tyr's shaky voice.

"H-hey Weiss" the Demoness turned around to see Tyr sitting upright holding out the necklace she had bought him before he passed out. It was the canine tooth of a Terlom Thresher, it was the size of an index finger and had a gentle curve to it that gave it a sleek yet intimidating look. "Thanks for getting me this, and for helping me… Sorry I've been such a pain." He looked down glumly at the necklace held in his hand.

Rolling her eyes Weiss made her way back to her friend lifting his chin up to look at him dead in the eye. A brief moment of silence proceeded that as the two stared back at each other "don't mention it dunce" she said sweetly as she bent down placing a small kiss on the his cheek. The small gesture had so many effects on the shocked Dramon, his skin turned bright red, his core temperature skyrocketed threatening to knock him out once again, and his scales grew into place covering most of his lower body and even a few spots on his face.

Laughing at his reaction Weiss pressed her hand down on her friend's chest forcing him back down before turning around again heading for the door. There were no interruptions this time around and just before she left she looked back, partially to make sure Tyr wasn't trying to make a break for it. But her worries were unwarranted as the goofball was still lying in bed with the most content smile in the universe on his face. Shaking her head she left with a smile of her own, perhaps she could finally get some peace and quiet now.

A thunderous crash came from down the hall putting Weiss on edge. Oh what now? She thought angrily to herself, Bandits? Ship-jackers? Basic thugs and looters? Whoever it was they picked the wrong ship to break into. Powering up Weiss took off down the hall towards the source of the noise. She covered the distance in no time at all, preparing a Ki blast in one hand as she turned a corner. She came to a screeching halt as she looked at the group before her, Shuyo, Raijin, Cooler, Nadan and Tukkan were all gathered in the main entrance ramp. Raijin and Nadan were a tangled mess of limbs as they struggled to get off the floor, clearly they were the ones who caused all the racket.

Looking at the others she saw that Tukkan was practically doubled over in fits of laughter, Cooler had a bit of a tan on his purple skin and Shuyo looked the most irritable she had ever seen him. Letting the Ki blast in her hand die she raised her eyebrows in surprise "what happened to you guys?"

* * *

"I can't believe you" Nadan huffed as Tukkan inspected yet another stall in the bustling marketplace. They had been traversing through the busy market for over what felt like forever, and Nadan's patience was quickly coming to an end.

"Oh come Nad just look at all these spices! Half of these you can't even obtain legally." Tukkan was grinning from ear to ear, he was like a child in a candy store, it might have been endearing if Nadan hadn't been putting up with it this whole trip. Tukkan felt the need to stop at almost every stall, counter or shop that caught his eye, which was almost every single one.

"We're not here for spices! We're looking for food so we don't starve!" Nadan planted his foot down as he glared at the bemused Konatsian.

"Yeah and there's food all over the place" Tukkan held out his arms gesturing to the various food merchants around them.

"You know what I mean, we need more than just a grocery run, we need enough to last months on end while your little 'helper' eats through it like a Nam-Cap." Nadan crossed his arms as the pair began to move away from the latest set of stalls.

"Look you need to lighten up Nad we've been stuck in that ship for weeks let's get out, breath some fresh air…" Tukkan trailed off as they passed a pair of curvaceous ladies who immediately caught his eye. "… See the sights" he grinned as he turned around to follow the girls coming to a halt as something snagged on the back of his shirt. Whipping his head back to see what he was caught on his gaze levelled with Nadan's enraged one.

"Absolutely not! We are here for supplies and a possible hyperdrive not women!" Nadan let go of his friend's shirt now that he had his attention once again. Exotic foods and spices were hard enough to get the Konatsian's attention away from, women were a completely different story. If Nadan let him wander after some mystery woman there was a good chance Tukkan could disappear for weeks, and Nadan wanted off this rock as soon as possible.

"Come on Nad who knows maybe they have a spare hyperdrive lying around" Tukkan pressed excitedly trying to convince his long-time friend who clearly wasn't buying it.

"Oh of course and perhaps Cooler and Shuyo will be best buddies by the end of this trip." Nadan chided back to the distracted Konatsian who had spotted another group of women. Realising he was getting nowhere with Tukkan, Nadan ran over to face his friend gathering his energy he raised himself to eye level with the Konatsian. Nadan was by no means a fighter in fact he was physically the weakest of their group but he had long ago learned how to fly using his own energy. The process was taxing so he only used it in emergencies, like trying to get Tukkan to focus before he ran off to do several undoubtedly stupid things.

Grabbing both sides of Tukkan's face and turning it to face his own Nadan growled at the startled womanizer. "Listen to me very clearly, we get the supplies we need, specifically the food, if we can't find a compatible hyperdrive that's not a big deal." Tukkan was about to open his mouth before Nadan cut him off "After we are sure we won't starve to death, then you can go chasing anyone you want." Once again Tukkan opened his mouth to argue but once again Nadan cut him off "keep it in your pants until we're done then you can go play got it?" Tukkan took a moment to consider his options before sighing and shaking his head in acknowledgment.

"You boys looking for food to resupply a ship?" a musical voice rang out snapping both friends from their intense stare down. Standing before them was tall Brench with a slim frame and elegant features, she had a long mane of flowing scarlet hair and her skin was a vibrant shade of cyan that seemed to glisten in the light.

'Why did it have to be a Brench, they're this idiot's biggest weakness' Nadan moaned internally. Glancing at his partner's face the Malakan scientist's heart sank, he saw the look in his eyes, Nadan had lost him.

"We sure are gorgeous, you wouldn't happen to be offering would you?" Tukkan had his best smile on as he sidled up to the new arrival.

She giggled sweetly, batting her eye lashes while she did so, Nadan was surprised Tukkan didn't simply melt into a puddle right then and there. "I might, why don't you and your friend come with me to see if what we have is what you need." The slender women turned on her heel smiling at the duo as she did so before she began walking away her hips swaying back and forth suggestively with each step.

Alarms went off in Nadan's head as the mystery woman made her exit, nothing about this seemed right but he didn't have time to think about it as his partner was already on the move. Tukkan was following the girl and was about to break into a jog to catch up to her when Nadan jumped onto his back securing his arm tightly around his friends neck. "Don't even think about it moron! The only way this could be a bigger trap would be if she was saying she's giving out free candy!"

Tukkan had to take a few seconds to wrestle his friend off of him holding him at arm's length like a child the master chef huffed at his squirming friend. "Nad this is the perfect opportunity she said it herself she's got the supplies we need all she needs is to have us inspect it." Tukkan felt like he was explaining the simplest thing in the galaxy but Nadan still looked anything but convinced.

"Tukkan don't be stupid gorgeous women don't just walk up to you and offer you food, especially not on this planet!" Nadan hissed angrily.

"Have a little faith buddy!" Tukkan grinned as he gripped Nadan tightly under his arm. He turned back around spotting the scarlet mane of the beauty round a corner. Tukkan gave chase despite the very vocal objections from his friend.

Rounding the corner they were once again face to face with the woman, she was leant up against a wall smiling serenely as they made their approach. "Glad you could make it boys, it's just in here" she nodded her head to the entrance of the building she was leaning against.

"We are not going in th-MMMMMM!" Nadan had been cut off by Tukkan placing his hand firmly over the Malakan's mouth. All he could do now was stew in his own anger as his friend possibly put them in yet another unnecessary situation that might get them both killed.

"Hehe I believe my friend was just saying ladies first" he grinned as the cyan beauty straightened up and walked past him running a single slender finger along the chefs chin as she did so.

"So polite" she winked at the two before turning back around heading inside "follow me boys."

Despite every fiber of Nadan's being telling him not to go, he was stuck in Tukkan's grip and along for the ride. Glancing up he spotted the stupid grin on his friend's face, the one that made him look like a dumb teenager, the one he always had when dealing with a sultry woman. As Tukkan dragged the Malakan along Nadan was forced to keep his eyes open in case of danger, clearly Tukkan had other things on his mind. 'He's strong enough to blow up a damn planet, you would think he'd be a little more responsible than this' Nadan thought to himself as they came to a counter with a terminal installed in it.

Behind the counter was yet another Brench, just as stunning as the other, in fact the two seemed almost identical to Nadan. The only difference between the two were their skin and hair, while both hairstyles were the same this new woman's hair was cyan and her skin was scarlet, the exact opposite of her companion.

"So boys I heard you were in the market for ship supplies, specifically enough food for extended voyages" Tukkan nodded as he finally released his hold on Nadan who dropped to the ground, he was already here so he might as well listen to their sales pitch. "Well lucky for you we just so happen to have… acquired… a large shipment of said supplies, and we would be willing to part with it for a modest sum." She smiled sweetly at the pair who both nodded in acknowledgment, Nadan noticed Tukkan's dumbstruck expression had vanished, something had put the chef on guard, that never boded well.

Deciding it would be best if he spoke up now Nadan cleared his throat before continuing "yes we do require said supplies and we would be willing to pay for them." Nadan paused as he saw the glints of excitement in the eyes of the twins "but before we buy anything I'm going to need Tukkan here to inspect the goods first, we need to make sure everything's up to his standards." He placed his hand on his partner's arm making sure to get his attention, but Tukkan seemed to be laser focused which could have been seen as both a good and bad thing.

"Of course, my dear sister here will be more than happy to show you what we have for you." The scarlet haired beauty gestured to her equally beautiful sister who was already heading towards the door to her right. Before going through the door she gave a gentle head nod in her direction signalling to Tukkan to follow. Without any hesitation Tukkan headed for the door but not before flashing Nadan a thumb's up from behind his back, this set Nadan's mind at ease a great deal, the chef was taking this seriously.

As the door closed behind the master chef the cyan beauty turned around to face the unimpressed Nadan. "So I take it you're the financial side of things for the two of you?" she asked sweetly as she hopped over the counter to begin typing away on the keyboard.

"I handle the expenses for my entire crew to be exact" Nadan corrected her as he watched her carefully.

"I thought as much, ever since your crew landed we've had our eye on you" she said brightly as she pulled a laser pistol out from under the counter pointing it directly at Nadan.

Nadan wasn't even surprised, at no point did this seem like it would end well. "Every damn time I go out with you Tukkan I wind up with a gun in my face" Nadan sighed as the armed woman pulled out a chip reader and placed it gently on the counter in front of her.

"This is how it's going to work shorty, we know you're loaded so you're going to put that chip into this machine and punch in the code to use it or I will put a blast between those pretty eyes of yours." She smiled sweetly as the laser sight trained itself directly between Nadan's eyes.

"If I refuse and you shoot me then all the money on the chip is out of your reach, a truly wasted opportunity considering how much is on here" Nadan chuckled as he brought out the credit chip.

"Oh please shorty, you clearly don't know who you're dealing with" she laughed as Nadan raised his eyebrow expecting an explanation. "We work for Boss Brusel, and nothing happens on this rock without his knowledge and say so." She flicked back the hammer and Nadan could hear the telltale whine of the blaster powering up. "Once you're gone we'll just get one of the nerds to break into your accounts."

"Boss Brusel? So who is he? The head of your little operation?" Nadan asked snidely.

"Oh honey I wouldn't exactly call it a 'little' operation" as she said that the sounds of blaster fire erupted from the back rooms where Tukkan had gone into. The laser fire lasted for almost a solid minute before going completely silent, turning her head back to address the Malakan before her. "Sorry about your friend but the same doesn't have to happen to you just give us what we want and you're free to go."

Nadan simply held his ground placing the chip back into the satchel he carried with him, narrowing his eyes towards his eyes towards the woman with the gun.

"Oh wrong choice honey" she said sweetly as she pulled the trigger. Nadan flinched as the blaster fired but the red bolt detonated a few feet from the Malakan's face leaving him completely unharmed. "What the?" Nadan's attacker stared at her weapon incredulously before firing another shot which led to the same result.

Flicking a switch on the side she turned the blaster to full auto unleashing a torrent of blaster fire, all of it coming up short of their intended target. "What the hell is going on?!" she shouted angrily as Nadan smirked at her.

"I don't care how gorgeous you are, I'm not about to let you hurt my buddy" Tukkan chided from behind her. She whipped around blaster at the ready but Tukkan was quicker staying behind her the whole time until he delivered a quick chop to the back of the woman's neck rendering her unconscious immediately. Turning back to Nadan, who was for the first time that day smiling, Tukkan grinned back as he ruffled his own hair.

"At least tell me they actually have supplies for us back there." Nadan said as he walked up to the powerhouse chef.

"They do Nad and best thing is it's all high quality, we should be good for at least three months straight if we grab it all. As they entered the backroom Nadan saw the unconscious bodies of the thugs who had undoubtedly attempted to take down Tukkan. "You know you keep saying you hate fighting but you keep having to beat the crap out of people" Nadan chuckled as he stepped over a particularly ugly thug.

"Not my fault these guys get so violent and it's not like they're dead they're just taking a little nap" Tukkan chuckled as they rounded the corner. Before them was the mound of crates the thugs had appropriated for themselves and as Tukkan had said they seemed to be in fine condition.

Walking up to one of the containers Nadan spotted a familiar looking logo, it was partially obscured by a blast point but the Malakan could swear he'd seen it before. Using the sleeve of one of the unconscious gunmen Nadan wiped away the soot and dirt from the blast to clear it up, once it was visible Nadan's eyes widened in surprise.

"Tukkan take a look at this" Nadan moved out of the way for his companion to inspect what he had found.

After looking at the symbol for a few seconds Tukkan broke into a huge grin, as he straightened back up. "So does that means all this is legally ours?" Tukkan asked as Nadan typed away on his datapad.

Nadan walked up to a serial code that was imprinted closer to the bottom of the shipping container and brought his scanner up to check it. Another few moments passed before a resounding beep signaled the device had completed its task. "That's right every single one of these crates is PTO property, this one in particular was aboard The Dauntless before it went missing several weeks ago."

"So whoever this Boss Brusel guy is he's been nicking our supplies for quite some time then." Tukkan chuckled as he looked around the warehouse "man Frieza is not gonna like hearing about this."

It took Nadan's loader drones several minutes to arrive at their location for pickup, in that time Nadan looked over as many crates as he could determining their points of origin. Every one of the storage units seemed to come directly from various PTO ships that had gone missing over the last year or so, most were written off as casualties with the GFM so there had never been a proper investigation. While the Malakan handled his investigation Tukkan had spent his downtime wandering the warehouse making sure every troublemaker was still unconscious.

As the three loaders arrived Nadan punched in their instructions before heading off with Tukkan. The machines would handle the heavy lifting for them as they both took to the air to head back to The Nemesis.

"So what do you think about this Brusel situation?" Tukkan asked as they flew over the marketplace.

"I honestly don't know, Lord Frieza will not be happy about this, I doubt we'll be leaving until he takes care of this whole mess when we tell him" Nadan sighed as The Nemesis came into view. He really didn't like this planet so the less time they spent there the better in his opinion.

They touched down outside the landing platform just as three figures touched down with an audible thud. Shuyo, Raijin and Cooler had just arrived with the last of their own supplies they had procured from the Yardrat salesman. They had spent the last half hour stockpiling the boxes into the cargo hold and upon seeing Nadan and Tukkan come back seemingly empty handed they made sure to point it out to the duo.

"So Nadan can't help but see you didn't bring anything back" Cooler drawled as he placed the last crate down. "Thanks to Shuyo and Raijin here we got ourselves two month's worth of supplies at a bargain price" Cooler clapped his hands on his own companions' shoulders.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Cooler but me and Nad just got back from getting enough for three months, oh and we got it for free." Tukkan chuckled at the disbelief on the Frost Demon's face.

"Bull, where is it? We haven't seen you all day and you just came here emptyhanded." Cooler crossed his arms narrowing his eyes at the duo suspiciously.

"Here comes the first batch now actually" Nadan said as the loaders came into view carrying their precious cargo along with them. Cooler looked absolutely dumbstruck as the three drones passed by him and into the cargo bay neatly stacking the crates before leaving for the next round.

"What are those!?" Cooler shouted as the drones took off, a soft hum emanating from their repulsors as they took to the air.

"What Lord Cooler? You didn't actually think I could actually carry any of those did you?" Nadan chuckled as they made their way up the ramp. "It should take them about an hour more and we'll all be packed up."

Cooler scowled as they made their way aboard which only made Tukkan laugh harder. "See Nad I told you they'd be pissed" Tukkan grinned as he slapped Nadan's back playfully. Taken off guard Nadan lunged forward knocking over Raijin who had gotten ahead of him. The pair were a tangled mess stuck in front of the entryway. Just as they began to right themselves once again Weiss came tearing through the halls at full speed Ki blast at the ready.

She came to a screeching halt upon seeing who was at the entrance, taking a moment to look over each one of them in turn she raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What happened to you guys?" she asked as they began heading inside. "For a second I thought you were bandits or something" she chuckled as they made their way into the dining area.

"Bandits? Oh! That reminds me we have so much to tell you, but maybe we should wait until Frieza gets back he'll want to hear this" Tukkan responded cheerily.

"Have any of you heard from Lord Frieza since we split up?" Nadan asked, the others simply shook their heads. For the most part the groups hadn't actually spoken with each other apart from Shuyo calling Cooler for assistance earlier.

"Oh don't worry Frieza's off with Aayla what's the worst they could get up to together?" Raijin asked innocently. As if the universe itself was responding to the question the entire crew of The Nemesis lost their footing as the entire ship and what possibly felt like the entire planet trembled violently.

Cooler covered his eyes with his hand as he groaned loudly "what did that idiot do now?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Wow this went longer than I thought and to think I was originally planning to add in Frieza and Aayla's misadventure on top of everyone else's. Oh well I guess that just lets me flush out there story which I hope you guys will enjoy.**

 **I've been continuing with my theme of 'not super dark and depressing' which allows me to add in a little more referential material as well as jokes. I actually had Cooler's scene be one big brooding session before realising that might be a little boring so I decided to have kick up a seat and eat some snacks while trying to come to terms with his spot in life.**

 **Another thing I wanted to show was Weiss, Raijin and Tyr's relationship, I feel like I haven't shown them interacting that much so I wanted to give them some time together as well. Also I felt like I needed to show off a little more of Shuyo's personality, we already know he's not a perfect person (no one is) but we've mainly only seen him grapple with indecision over major issues so I felt to 'humanize' him a little more him gripping about the climate would be a nice way to show that off. Nadan and Tukkan's scenes pretty much wrote itself, helped set up the next chapter and gives us a closer look at their dynamic.**

 **Next up is Frieza and Aayla's adventure on planet Hermos, what have they been up to? Who is the mysterious Boss Brusel? And will they be able to solve this issue without blowing up a planet? Find out on the next thrilling chapter of Frieza Ball Z! (Seriously though I got to apologize for ending almost every chapter with a cliff-hanger)**

 **As always guys you have been fantastic hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll see you next time!**


	13. Chapter 13 - Less Fun In The Sun

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" The terrified shopkeeper pleaded on his hands and knees, his face placed firmly on the ground. If the fool pushed any harder Frieza was positive his head would go straight through the floor.

Frieza sighed to himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose "I am not here to kill you, I am-"

"THANK YOU MY LORD I AM FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT!" The shopkeeper interrupted, he was now just on his knees staring up at Frieza with a strange mix of gratitude and abject terror. "WHATEVER YOU NEED YOUR EXCELLENCY JUST NAME IT AND I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!" The man was now standing at attention, better than many of his soldiers Frieza noted.

"First I need you to quiet down before you rupture my damn eardrums." The shopkeeper's complexion blanched and it looked like he was about to begin shouting an apology. Luckily Frieza held up his hand to quiet the man before he did so "all I need is for you to check if you have anything on this list in stock." Frieza slid the list of supplies Nadan had compiled onto a table for the shopkeeper's inspection. As he read down the list his complexion grew more and more sickly until he shakily placed the datapad back down on the table.

"I-I-I'm so—sorry your hi-highness but" the shopkeeper paused as it looked like he was about to be violently ill.

"But?" Frieza asked expectantly he had a feeling he knew what was coming. It had been the same story all day, for a planet that seemed to pride itself on having anything you can possibly want on it, Frieza found himself coming up emptyhanded every single time.

"WE DON'T HAVE ANY OF THAT IN STOCK! I'M SO SORRY I FAILED YOU PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" The man was back on his hands and knees again and as before had reacquainted his face with the floor boards. Frieza could have spoken up to tell him it was ok, but he decided to just let things play out like this. It wasn't the first time that day that the Frost Demon had brought some shopkeeper or stall owner to the brink of panicked hysterics, Frieza had a sinking suspicion that it wouldn't be the last either.

With Frieza's complete silence the only sounds that could be heard in the tiny shop were the low whirl of machinery and the ever growing sound of the man hyperventilating. After a solid minute of silence, of which Frieza could have sworn he could hear the man's heart pumping like a jackhammer, the shopkeeper finally snapped. "I HAVE A FAMILY! I CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS!" Wasting no time the shopkeeper bolted from his own store kicking up a cloud of dust once he was outside.

Frieza slammed his tail down in frustration, shattering a several floorboards with a loud crack. He was trying to stay calm but this was getting ludicrous, every damn time he entered a shop it was the same procedure. The shopkeeper would say something about a dress code upon seeing Frieza's ivory skin, then they would realise who they were talking to. After about five minutes of groveling they would finally calm down enough to inspect Frieza's list before screaming and leaving their shops. Frieza had no doubt if it were happening to anyone else he would have found it amusing.

As Frieza left the shop grumbling to himself the sardonic voice of his partner called out to his right. "So that looked like it went well" Aayla was leaning over a low hanging wall, her head-tail swishing back and forth lazily. Frieza glared at the appendage for a moment, Aayla claimed she had no actual muscle control over it but the more time he spent around the Securan the less he believed that. Looking back to the grinning Securan Frieza merely grunted as he began to walk back into the bustling market.

Aayla was quickly by his side as they traversed the crowded marketplace "look I told you that we should stick together and that I should do the talking." Frieza's pout only deepened at the thought, he was fully capable of doing the equivalent of a grocery run. "Oh don't be like that, don't get me wrong I know you can handle yourself, it's just I don't think others can handle you."

Frieza sighed audibly as he came to a halt "this wouldn't be so bad if any of these damn people actually sold what we needed."

"Well have you tried asking nicely?" Aayla asked sweetly her azure eyes glinting in the sunlight. "Cause right now you're giving off that whole 'I will vaporize you where you stand' look" Aayla chuckled at Frieza's unamused expression. "Yeah that one!" she exclaimed.

"I haven't threatened anyone with death, dismemberment or the destruction of their world yet so I would say so." Frieza now had his arms crossed as he looked at his partner. He had long ago decided against trying to figure out how Aayla kept herself in such high spirits. He had a feeling he would never find the answer, so instead of questioning it he decided to just enjoy her presence. That being said there were some days where it started to grate on his nerves.

"Ok, well yeah that is pretty good for you, but why don't you try being a little more like meeEEEEEE!" Aayla shrieked as her back straightened in alarm. Without warning her head-tail snapped out coiling around a seedy looking man's wrist who was passing by in the blink of an eye. Just as quickly her lengthy appendage yanked the man's arm forward into the Securan's waiting grasp. There was a brief moment where their eyes locked and Frieza could see the fire in them, this wasn't going to end well.

"Did you just touch my ass?" Aayla's voice was chilling, betraying no emotion while at the same time being one of the most menacing things Frieza had ever heard. The sheepish looking man, who looked to be somewhat middle-aged, nodded slowly. Quick as a flash Aayla held up the groper's arm with her head-tail before slamming a fist into his exposed elbow. It wasn't full power but the sickening crunch of bone shattering could be heard throughout the bustling market.

The man fell to the ground in a heap staring at his ruined arm in silent horror, he was so in shock he didn't even feel the pain, not yet at least. Aayla bent down never breaking eye contact with the man a dark look over her face, he backed up as quickly as he could before his back collided with a wall. No one in the vicinity was moving a muscle everyone was captivated by the display going on before them.

"If you do that again to anyone else, and I will find out, I'll come back for the other arm, got it?" The terrified punk's head nodded feverishly as he stumbled to his feet. He took one last look at the Securan warrior before breaking into a sprint to put as much distance between the two of them as he possibly could. Bumping into and knocking over several people as he ran a few women yelled after him throwing rocks after him, apparently the scum had a history around here.

"So is that what you call nice? If that's the case I think I can handle it." Frieza smirked as Aayla rejoined him. Frieza couldn't help but enjoy his bodyguards intimidating presence, it helped to remind him there was more to her than met the eye.

"Save it, besides I'm pretty sure if someone grabbed your hind quarters you'd wipe out their entire species." Aayla grumbled as Frieza adopted a thoughtful expression.

"No not the whole population just enough to get my point across, let's say one fifth" Frieza smirked as they turned around another corner. Both keeping their eye's peeled for any possible merchants that would have what they were looking. After another minute Frieza looked back to his partner out of the corner of his eye with a smirk "I knew you could control your head-tail."

Aayla huffed in annoyance as they passed a stand selling magazines that only lecherous old men and Tukkan would purchase. "Look, normally my people can't control their Lakee, it's supposed to be comprised mostly of fat and nerves." Aayla grumbled as they continued their way down the dusty streets. "Some crap about our ancestors using it to store nutrients for when we go into hibernation."

"La-Key?" Frieza stressed each syllable of the word sounding it out so he got it right in the future. Aayla had never said what the technical term for it was before and head-tail just didn't sound very appealing. "So why is yours different?" Frieza asked glancing at his partner who seemed visibly uncomfortable. Well that's what Frieza thought anyway it was still hard for him to judge the small queues that some of his crew gave off.

"The same reason everything about me is different!" Aayla exclaimed throwing her hands in the air, startling a passing group. "It's my damn adaptive genetics, all that fat got replaced with muscle by the time I was three! Ugh you should have seen the looks I use to get from people." Aayla's eyes glossed over as she relived her past "after a while I just tried to hide it, but the damage was done, the 'anomaly' just got a little weirder."

Aayla's normally carefree demeanor was gone, in its place was something Frieza had picked up through their mental bond from time to time. Aayla may have liked to show off that she was a powerful woman who was carefree and that was certainly a part of her personality. But there was also the downtrodden outsider who was abandoned at a young age, the one who gave everything to help her people who only gave her disgusted looks in return. Frieza could safely say that he despised her people for their predisposition of her, not one of them had bothered to get to know her. If any of them had they would have found the remarkable woman who was too good for them.

Through their bond Frieza could feel Aayla's anger and anxiety elevating at an alarming pace. It wasn't very often that Aayla got this mad. She did not say anything but the agitated twitch of her Lakee was enough to tell Frieza that she was fit to burst. Almost as if on cue Aayla let out a resentful scream startling a nearby shopkeeper who dropped an expensive looking vase.

"I cried for those bastards! When your dad blew them all to Hell I cried my eyes out, you had to knock me out because I was so pissed" Aayla exclaimed looking to Frieza. The Frost Demon was no stranger to venting so rather than interrupt her he patiently let her continue making sure to steer her away from the more populated areas of the marketplace.

"Did you know when I was eight I met the nicest boy on that damn planet, he didn't care who or what I was he saw me for me." Aayla eyes were gleaming in the light of the twin suns, it looked as if she was just barely holding back tears. "We were best friends and he was so nice to me, then one day his parents found out about me and they took him away just up and moved on."

Tears were now streaming gently down her cheeks as her memories flooded back "ten years later I found him by accident I pulled him out of a burning building and you know what he said?" Frieza didn't answer he knew it was best to her continue, interrupting would serve no purpose. "He said, he said don't touch me you freak" Aayla chocked at the recollection. "His parents had spent ten years filling his head with the same nonsense the rest of them believed! I lost the closest thing I ever had to a friend and all because those close minded monsters saw me as a freak."

Aayla sat herself down on a bench along the side of the road stroking her Lakee as her tears continued to fall. Frieza took the spot next to her resting his hand on her shoulder, a sign of caring he rarely showed with anyone else.

"Even after all the work I did, after all the sacrifice and hardships they didn't care" she sniffed her tears had now stopped and she glared ahead her mind clouded with depressing thoughts. "I once saved the whole planet from a meteor, it would have destroyed the whole planet, and so what do I do? I fly up higher than I ever had before put all my energy into a single blast. Damn near killed myself but I blew up the rock and you know what they said when I came back down?" Aayla began to grit her teeth trying her best to keep control and clearly failing. "They said 'oh so you did survive, oh well maybe next time we'll get lucky' those selfish ao khtaye heatle'ei feikh khto ALA OAHAAOTA EIAOOL RAHOIHIS OUFUL!"

Frieza had not expected a full tirade in Securan, and had no idea what she was saying but judging from her tone of voice and the waves of anger he was feeling it couldn't have been good. Frieza had only ever heard bits and pieces of Aayla's native language she usually reserved it for cursing when the children were nearby. It was a language that was pleasant to the ear, even in the enraged voice of Aayla it still flowed pleasantly. However no matter how nice it sounded Aayla's enraged voice was starting to draw a crowd that Frieza really didn't want to deal with. So quickly hooking his arm underneath Aayla's Frieza took off landing on a roof a few blocks away.

"YUL HYAKHEATAO YAAIH..." Aayla trailed off as she realised where they were. "How did we get…" she trailed off once again realising her actions only seconds earlier. Her cheeks glowed bright red, an impressive feat for one with blue skin, as she buried her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry Frieza I wish you didn't hear all that"

"Don't fret my dear, try to remember I've dealt with a bratty Saiyan prince for years, what you just let loose was hardly the worst outburst I've heard." Frieza began pacing around the border of the roof looking down at the ground below. "Tell me do you feel a little better now getting some of that off your chest?" Frieza inquired as he kicked a bit of plaster off ledge.

"Yeah, a little better, but just thinking about those, those, krebs! Ugh it makes my blood boil." Aayla was now watching Frieza's path around the roof trying to gauge what the Frost Demon was thinking. Trying to move on from her little incident she looked out at the horizon, Hermos really wasn't a very appealing planet. In all directions all she could see were shabby houses and rock formations with shifting seas of sand mixed in. To top it all off the entire place was coloured in a wide array of the dullest browns, greys and oranges she had ever seen. Aayla wiped her face clean with her sleeve as she walked up beside Frieza who was staring out to the distance. "So see anything pretty?" Aayla joked but stopped as Frieza raised a finger pointing to a spot about a mile away.

"I wouldn't call it pretty, but that looks an awful lot like a ship scrapyard" Frieza smiled as he turned his head to face his Securan partner. "With any luck we may have just found ourselves a hyperdrive."

* * *

"Run that by me one more time" Frieza demanded, his patience with the junk dealer before him was quickly approaching its limit.

"We had a Z-40t Walkon hyperdrive but we just sold it" Tenza squeaked. Like every other shop owner he had come across that day this one was absolutely terrified. To the merchant's credit, Frieza was hardly able to hold back the burning hatred he was feeling towards the squat Crodan.

The moment Frieza had entered the scrapyard his eyes had immediately fallen on the owner. Unlike Seluba this one was no warrior a frail, shifty looking creature whose mandibles were constantly grazing over each other. That didn't stop the flashes of Seluba from running through his mind and the only thing that saved the bug was Aayla quickly diverting Frieza's arm so his Death Beam fired harmlessly into the air. After a brief discussion cooler heads prevailed and Aayla managed to convince Frieza to talk with the Crodan while she explored the scrapyard to see if there was anything of value.

"Who did you sell it to?" Frieza pressed, his tail twitched instinctually towards the seedy bug, but Frieza was able to pull it back before it coiled around the chubby roach. There was no point in killing him, at least not until Frieza got the information he needed.

"Look I run a legitimate business here, I can't just go giving out my customer's information" the Crodan paused a moment as he tried to gauge the Frost Demon's mood. "But perhaps I could be… persuaded otherwise" Tenza's mandibles rubbed together faster than before, no doubt excited at the thought of money.

"Oh if there's one thing I can be… it's persuasive" Frieza grinned as his tail lashed out coiling around the merchant's leg before taking off into the air taking the screaming bug along with him. After they had made it several miles up Frieza slowed down so he could be heard over the roar of the wind. "Time for a little biology lesson" Frieza called out as they slowly continued their assent "my species can survive in the vacuum of space, yours cannot, so either you tell me what I want to know or we're going to go visit Hermos' moon." Tenza's eyes widened in horror at the thought, the look on his face had always been one of Frieza's personal favourites. Tenza tried desperately to release himself from the Frost Demon's grasp oblivious to how high they were already. If Frieza let go at this point there was no way the weakling would survive.

Frieza would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying watching the writhing creature in his grasp. Frieza had thought he had wiped out all the Crodans in existence years ago. However it seemed that, much like the Saiyans, there were still miscreants like Seluba and this pathetic bug that had survived the initial purge. The Crodans had been a conniving race who only held loyalty to those they could hide behind, of course there had been exceptions such as Seluba but for the most part they were a pathetic cowardly people.

As they steadily gained altitude Frieza could feel the air growing thinner and colder, while not a problem for the Frost Demon his captive was a very different story. Frost was already starting to build up on his carapace and his vain struggles had now transformed to violent shivers and they weren't even halfway through the troposphere yet. Tenza made a weak noise as he tried desperately to catch his breath and keep his body warm in the steadily declining temperatures.

"You're going to have to speak up, it's awfully windy up here" Frieza jeered at his helpless captive.

"OK! I'LL TALK PLEASE JUST LET ME DOWN!" Tenza screeched as loud as he could before he began frantically panting for air.

"Well if you insist" Frieza smirked as he released his tail's grip. For a moment the Tenza's face was flooded with relief as he felt the hold on his leg ease away, then he realised what that meant. Tenza quickly plummeted towards the ground at a breakneck pace, hitting terminal velocity in seconds. Still frozen from the trip up Tenza could only watch in horror as the ground quickly approached. As the buildings of the city started to come into greater detail Tenza clamped his eyes shut he could only hope it wouldn't hurt when he made impact.

But the impact never came, the roar of the wind had vanished and Tenza felt weightless. There was no solid ground underneath him as he tentatively tried to reach out with his foot only to find nothing. With his eyes still clamped shut the merchant managed to eke out "am, am I dead?"

"I would hope not I still have questions that need answering" the mocking voice of Frieza snapped the Crodan's eyes open, he was back in his scrapyard. Somehow he had survived and was now floating several feet above the ground. How could this be he had never flown a day in his life, Tenza's mind raced trying to figure out how this could have happened.

Frieza gently touched down beside the terrified bug his index finger extended with a glowing pinprick of orange light at the tip. Oh it was him Tenza thought to himself, Frieza had used his telekinesis to halt his decent before he pancaked against the ground. "If I were you I would start talking before I pop you like a balloon" Frieza smirked as the light at the finger brightened.

"Ok! Ok I gave it to Koral and Drudge, they're Boss Brusel's right hand men, I-I didn't have a choice!" the terrified Crodan exclaimed. This day was quickly getting worse and worse first he had been held up and essentially robbed by a punch of thugs and now he was at the mercy of the most terrifying being in the universe.

"And who is this Brusel fellow?" Frieza inquired as he began slowly scratching his chin. Something about that name sounded familiar but Frieza was positive he had never heard it before.

"You're kidding right?" The Crodan merchant asked incredulously before catching the dark glare Frieza returned him. "Right um look Boss Brusel he runs this entire system, he's done it for years" Tenza squirmed trying to make himself upright unfortunately he was still held firmly in place by Frieza's telekinetic hold. "Rumor has it he's a brutal warrior who showed up the planet more than thirty years ago and after killing all the gang leaders on the planet himself he took charge."

"Interesting, but what use does a lowly mob boss need with such a specific hyperdrive?" Frieza pressed, something about this didn't feel right to the Frost Demon.

"I-I don't know I swear, his boys just showed up and said they're taking it, they didn't give me a reason" the merchants mandibles were rubbing against one another furiously the anxiety clear on his face.

"And you're positive that's everything you know" Frieza leaned in staring directly into his captives terror stricken eyes. Over the years Frieza had learned to discern a great many things from an adversary's eyes, he had become highly adept at discerning when he was dealing with liars or when people were withholding information.

"That's everything I swear! I try to stay away from his goons, no good ever came from messing with them." A few tension filled seconds passed before the Crodan nervously looked back towards Frieza who seemed to be deep in thought. Gathering his courage Tenza addressed his captor once again "are you going to let me go?"

The Crodan's voice brought Frieza back from his thoughts, he had everything he needed or would get from the bug, and therefor he was of no further use. Of course there was still the matter of his life, Frieza had never liked the Crodans to begin with and with his recent business with Seluba and the GFM it only made Frieza want to finish the job he had started years ago when he looked to wipe their race from the universe. With a malicious grin Frieza raised his finger once again the Crodan began to rise following the path of his appendage. He was about to hurl the bug into the air when he was distracted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Frieza! You done over there or what?" Aayla called out from across yard.

Grimacing to himself Frieza released the Psychokinesis Bomb letting the Crodan fall to the ground in a heap. While watching the roach pop like a balloon would fill Frieza with a considerable amount of satisfaction, Aayla would not see things from his point of view. Frieza gave Tenza one last glare before he turned around to rejoin his companion.

"So did he have it?" Aayla asked as they made their way back to the street.

"He did, but someone got to it first, some gang leader named Brusel sent his underlings and took it away just before we arrived" Frieza stated as they passed the main exit to the scrapyard.

"Brusel huh? Yeah I heard about him from some of the other vendors I was speaking to" Aayla continued on with her arms crossed her Lakee gently swaying back and forth. "He's supposed to be this super powerful, ruthless warrior who rules over this sector with an iron fist, sounds kinda familiar" Aayla smirked as she gave Frieza a sideways look, to which Frieza rolled his eyes.

"I assure you these miscreants idea of 'super powerful' doesn't measure up to us" Frieza replied as they turned another corner. "Did you find anything useful in that junk pile he called a business?" Frieza asked.

"Well I found this little blonde kid, I think he might have been a slave or some-" Aayla was cut off by Frieza's outstretched palm.

"Absolutely not, we have enough runts running around the ship we don't need a fourth" Frieza decreed.

"Don't worry I'm we're not going to adopt every kid we come across, besides this one was kinda creepy, asked if I was an angel or something like that." The pair laughed as they made their way down the deserted streets. Coming to a sudden halt Frieza looked around at the surrounding buildings, just as he thought the place was empty.

"Where did everyone go?" Frieza asked as Aayla came to a halt as well.

"This place was packed a minute ago" Aayla confirmed.

From the roofs above the pair small spheres dropped down to their level. Upon impact each one let loose a cloud of dark billowing smoke obscuring their vision. Aayla could just make out the sounds of feet hurriedly moving around them. Not wanting to waste any more time she let loose a Kiai to dissipate the smoke. Once it had finally cleared both Frieza and Aayla found themselves surrounded on all sides.

"Well now this is interesting" Frieza commented upon seeing the group before them. Spread out all across the street was a menagerie of various people of all different shapes and sizes. Frieza was quick to take note of what they were wearing. Each one of them was adorned in the armour typically worn by his own Frieza Force, the only difference was that each and every one had a symbol engraved on the left breastplate of a single red eye surrounded by a moon.

"By order of Boss Brusel you two are going to hand over everything you have of value and surrender yourselves over to us!" a tall Iru commanded stepping forward cracking his neck as he did so, he wore an eyepatch over the left side of his face and he bore several scars that ran along his scaly forearms. "Or else me and the boys here are gonna have to get a little… rough" the green skinned Iru chuckled along with the rest of his group.

"Hey Frieza, I think they're trying to mug us or something" Aayla said trying her best not to burst out laughing. Though neither of them could sense energy it wasn't hard to see these clowns had no business holding the pair up.

The Iru's fin on top of his head flattened as he narrowed his eyes at the pair "you think this is a joke fella?"

"Well isn't that the only thing clowns like you are good for? Making jokes?" Frieza chuckled further as the group's leader's scales rustled in indignation.

"You think I'm gonna take this from you shorty" the leader raised his hand signalling the rest of his group. Every blaster and hand in the area raised towards the pair in the middle of the street. Frieza was able to get a closer look at their gear now and his suspicions were confirmed every one of them was armed with a PTO blaster some even had the original markings on them.

"I have so many questions I simply don't know where to begin" Frieza chuckled as his tail swung from side to side. "Let's start with introductions shall we I am Lord Frieza, this here is my lovely bodyguard Aayla Talon" Frieza gave a mock bow as the many of the group exchange terrified looks with each other. "Why don't you tell me your name, you seem to be in charge of this rabble after all" Frieza locked eyes with one of the muggers who quickly dropped his blaster and began sprinting down the road as fast as his legs could carry him.

"My name is Koral, Brusel's right hand man, now shut up we're taking you for everything you got" Koral replied angrily once again pointing his blaster at the Frost Demon.

Chuckling at the comment Frieza took a step forward to which Koral immediately took two back "so you work for Brusel? What a coincidence we were just looking for a few of his lackeys, you in particular." After another two steps three more of Koral's men made a break for it, one in particular jumped into a dumpster off to the side. "You know if you're truly his right hand man why would he send you to your obvious death, did he not say who I was?"

"The Boss knows I could handle you, you ain't so tough lookin" while Koral's words gave off the impression he had the situation under control, the nervous waiver in his voice told a different story. Another step forward and this time Koral raised his blaster defensively, the rattle of the gun could be heard as his arms began to shake.

Undeterred Frieza continued onwards each step echoing across the dusty street. "Oh how delightful you think you can hurt me with that" Frieza snickered as he was now only a few feet from the trembling Iru.

Losing all sense of calm Koral nervously yelled out to the remainder of his men "waste this fool!" The torrent of blaster fire would have made many run for cover but Frieza only laughed at the hailstorm of red light. Truly their aim was awful most of their shots went wide or over the Frost Demon's head, not that it mattered, the shots that did connect with the ivory skinned tyrant had absolutely no effect. The display was so pathetic Frieza's laughter only grew with each passing second, his voice soon surpassed that of the cacophony of the laser barrage.

As his laughter grew Koral's gang of hoodlums began dropping their weapons and running away some screaming at the top of their lungs. Clearly they were smarter than their leader as the foolish Iru held his ground firing blast after ineffectual blast into Frieza until he was the only one left.

"Well that was fun!" Frieza exclaimed before appearing an inch in front of Koral's face smashing the blaster to pieces with his tail. Koral gasped in pain as he faltered backwards, the impact of Frieza's tail had shattered the poor fool's wrist like glass. Before Koral could make turn tail and retreat Frieza Coiled his tail around the Iru's leg. After struggling for a few seconds Frieza flipped the man upside down raising him in the air until he was once again face to face with the Frost Prince. "So I have to ask where did you take the hyperdrive you acquired from that scrapyard?" Frieza pointed his thumb over his shoulder indicating the direction they had just come from.

"I ain't telling you nothing!" Koral spat back at the Frost Demon trying his best to break himself free of Frieza's iron grasp.

"I'd do as he says if I were you" Aayla called out she was inspecting a discarded blaster as she made her way up to the pair. "Otherwise you'll have to deal with me" at that Aayla ignited her Ki and watched as the blaster in her hand melted under the intense heat of her flowing energy. "It's my job to protect Frieza, and you just spent fifty four seconds shooting at him" the icy tone of her voice even took Frieza aback, this wasn't a side of her that usually came out.

"Ok! Ok the boss told me to take it to a storage facility to keep away from you guys" Koral replied in a panic.

"And where pray tell would that be?" Frieza asked he was getting tired of interrogations and just wanted to get off this sandy rock as soon as he could. To help speed things along Frieza tightened his tail's grip garnering a gasp of pain from Koral and a warning glance to ease off from Aayla.

"I have the coordinates on my datapad just see for yourself!" Koral hurriedly retrieved a small datapad from the confines of his armour.

Aayla quickly snatched the device away from him and began scanning through the information on the screen. "You realise you have your bosses house on here right? You literally just gave us his exact address" Koral's features blanched as he realised his blunder. "It's actually true I guess, so hard to find competent help these days." Pocketing the datapad for Nadan to comb through later Aayla looked to Frieza who was absentmindedly inspecting his nails "you can let him go the idiot's not exactly a threat."

Rolling his eyes Frieza begrudgingly let Koral go, he fell headfirst to the ground with an audible crunch. Undeterred by his less than graceful landing Koral quickly got to his feet and began to limp away at a surprisingly fast pace. Frieza waited until the Iru was out of sight before turning back to Aayla who was already smiling back at him. "What?" Frieza asked in confusion.

"Oh it's nothing come on let's go get pick up a hyperdrive" in truth Aayla was feeling a strange sense of pride towards the Frost Demon, that had been two times now that the Frost Demon was given the option of killing someone and instead he just let them go. She wasn't fooling herself though she knew full well he probably would have obliterated them if she hadn't been there to stay her boss' hand, but even baby steps can still be considered progress.

* * *

It took them nearly ten minutes to reach their destination. As Frieza touched down he scanned the surrounding area and was surprised to see that somehow they had found an even more dilapidated part of the city. The 'storage facility' in particular was nothing more than a dingy warehouse. The only thing appearing to hold the place together was the rust that coated almost every visible nook and cranny.

"Lovely" Frieza remarked as they made their way onto the premises kicking up a small cloud of dust with each step. If it wasn't for the obvious signs of foot traffic neither Aayla nor Frieza would have believed this was the place. But the extensive tracks that lead into the building were a sure sign that they were on the right track.

As they came up to the rusted door Frieza only felt a strong sense of underwhelming disappointment. Frieza had been hoping for a heavily guarded compound, maybe with a squad of elite soldiers who would fight tooth and nail for their beloved leader. Instead what they got was a rusted pile of trash that looked like a strong breeze could knock it over.

"Well after you boss" Aayla smirked as she gestured towards the building before them. Frieza could see she felt the same as him, she had been expecting so much more.

Returning the smirk Frieza kicked the door as lightly as he could. He had hoped the door would simply fall off its hinges and clatter to the ground, instead the moment Frieza's foot made contact with the rusted metal the entire door crumbled into a dusty heap. Both had to retreat as the cloud of dirt and airborne rust enveloped them. Coughing as he backed up Frieza could just hear the sound of Aayla hacking a few feet away.

"Ugh I'm gonna break this Brusel guy's leg for that!" Aayla exclaimed angrily as she spit out a glob of dull red and brown sputum.

Expecting a crowd to have formed to inspect the enormous racket the pair just created Frieza turned around to scare off any nosy passersby. However to his surprise there was no one there, in fact upon focusing intently he couldn't see nor hear anyone at all. There was only the sound of the stifling wind blowing through the air and the dull sounds of wind chimes coming from a house nearby.

Just as before Frieza was getting an uneasy feeling, he couldn't say for sure but something about this situation was not right. Heading back to the opening he had made Frieza turned around once more scanning the area intently trying to spot if there was anyone around. Still nothing not a soul could be picked up by Frieza's heightened hearing or sight.

"Not that I'm worried but let's keep an eye on our back rear, something about this doesn't feel right" Frieza stated as they entered the decrepit building.

"Oh I'll keep an eye on it alright" Aayla muttered under her breath as she followed the Frost Demon inside. As they entered the main storage area they were greeted with boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling. The crates had a thick layer of dust on them and as the pair made their way further into the building kicked up even massive plumes of dust and dirt with each step. The dust only helped further obscure their view of the room which already suffered from meagre lighting.

"Well this place sure is cozy" Aayla remarked as she continued alongside her partner. They both came to a turn in their path, the boxes seemed to be leading them down a specific path. Without anything better to do both decided to oblige and followed it through the dimly lit building.

They continued in silence for another few minutes each step echoing across the walls. Something about this place felt unnerving to Frieza perhaps it was the silence but he had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him there was danger. Frieza's thoughts were soon cut off by the exacerbated grown of the Securan warrior to his right. "I can't take this anymore why are we moving so slowly?" Aayla complained as they rounded yet another corner.

"Don't fret my dear" Frieza chuckled at his partner's rare display of impatience. "After all we'll be leaving shortly, there's what we came for" Frieza pointed ahead and just as he said sat a Z-40t Walkon hyperdrive, the exact kind they needed. This was too easy Frieza thought, sure these people were hardly what he would call a challenge but still they just left their prize right out in the open with no guards. The fools could have hidden it anywhere and it would have been almost impossible to find the damn thing.

As the pair approached what they came for the sound of an old intercom system turning on rang through the room. "Hello Frieza" the voice was gruff and but also sounded slightly raspy as if coming from someone who was quite old. "Don't bother answering this system only lets me talk to you, as you might have guessed I am Boss Brusel and I don't believe I said you can set foot on my planet."

The sound of Brusel's chuckling was harsh and when paired with the static of the old intercom it came through like nails on a chalkboard. After his laughter died down Brusel continued "but that's not fair, if it wasn't for you I would have never come here, would never have taken over, so I guess I have you to thank."

"I hate it when they start monologuing" Frieza groaned as Brusel continued on. Why was it that every single person he went up against recently decided the need to monologue? Vegeta, Goku, Seluba and now even this Brusel fool, all they did was talk, sure Frieza liked a good conversation as much as the next guy but these fools just went on and on.

Brusel had not stopped talking that whole time and it didn't seem like he was about to stop either. "And now here you are, once I realised what you were looking for I did everything in my power to set this up for you. The way I see it you gave me this world after taking my old one from me. So as a token of appreciation for this world I'm giving you the hyperdrive you need so much. I just needed to stall you long enough to set this up and Koral did an excellent job. I was surprised that you let him go I guess you're getting a little soft hehehe."

"For the love of… Will he just shut up already?!" Aayla exclaimed throwing her hands into the air in aggravation. If she could have seen where the speaker was she would have blasted it to pieces by now.

"Well I think I've said enough for one day I'll leave you with your gift" Brusel said before the static and click that came with the intercom shutting off.

"Finally!" Aayla complained as she began walking towards the hyperdrive once again. The machinery was lying on pile of crates, it probably weighed a few tons but that hardly mattered. Once they grabbed the machine and brought it aboard The Nemesis Nadan would have it hooked up in no time.

"Something about this isn't right, you don't just give someone who blew up your home planet a present" Frieza said as he walked over to a crate. He was curious as to what was in it, ever since he had entered the building he had picked up an unusual scent. It was a sour and acrid smell, at first Frieza just attributed it to the planet itself, almost everything on this rock smelled bad.

Upon examining the crate he could tell that the smell was coming from the boxes themselves, brushing off the dust obscuring a symbol on it Frieza's eyes widened in shock. Along the side of the crate was marked with symbols representing ionized zipane a dust that could only be found on Hermos and that acted as one of the universes most powerful accelerants.

Sensing her partner's shock Aayla stopped just short of the hyperdrive, turning around to see what had caught the Frost Demon's attention she didn't see the panel on the side of the hyperdrive flash green signalling its activation. She didn't hear the sound of wires short circuiting as they had been heavily tampered with. So she was completely unprepared for when the hyperdrive malfunctioned and cracks formed in the chassis of the device. Nor was she prepared for the blinding flash of light that erupted from the device and exploded with the ferocity of a Supernova engulfing everything in a ten mile radius in a colossal blue fireball that shook the planet to the very core.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone first off I just want to apologize profusely at the lateness of this chapter. It's been a hell of a week and I had to completely rewrite this chapter as it didn't flow nearly as well as I wanted it to on my first attempt.**

 **So at first I was hoping to wrap up what I have dubbed the Hermos mini arc this chapter but found that I should leave the confrontation with Brusel as its own chapter. I wanted this chapter to serve two main purposes, the first was obviously giving Frieza and Aayla's relationship more depth as well as show off a little more of Aayla's past. The second thing was I wanted to show off how Frieza relates to the general public, some have said that Frieza was moving too quickly to the side of good. The thing you got to realise with the last few chapters is that he's only reacted to his crew who at this point have become his family of sorts. But with some nobody the gloves come off and we get the a little bit more of the tyrant we all know and love.**

 **Again I got to apologize for leaving the chapter off on a cliff-hanger but it's just too tempting not to.**

 **One thing I do have to let you know is that after the next chapter, I'll be taking a week off from new chapters to go back over previous ones. I'll be combing through each chapter and updating each one correcting any grammatical errors and fixing up some of the chapters especially the early ones. I do apologize for the delay in that regard but I got something special planned for chapter 15 which I hope everyone will enjoy.**

 **As always you guys have been fantastic we are now OVER 9000! Views and I love it so much. Remember if you got questions ask away and I'll answer them for you.**

 **Take care everyone** **J**


	14. Chapter 14 - One Punch Frost Demon

Brusel had learned several important things over the decades that made up his long bloody history. Information was one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, a sentiment unfortunately not shared by his people who were now long dead. He had learned that sometimes direct confrontation was just a faster way to get yourself killed, sometimes a more creative solution to a situation would be beneficial. He had learned that a little civility towards ones enemies can go a long way. And finally if you crossed enough wires in an M-Class hyperdrive system and activated it within a planet's gravity well it became the universe's biggest bomb.

So as Brusel's palatial compound, as well as the entirety of Planet Hermos, violently shook from the detonation all the way on the other side of the globe, the gang leader could only smile and kick his feet up on his splendid desk. While yes the Saiyan blood coursing through his veins screamed at him to fight Frieza mano a mano, over seven decades of experience told him that was a stupid idea. The Frost Demon wasn't like any of the rabble on this dirt ball he had called home, he was a force of galactic destruction, and while Brusel had a few ideas on how to even the playing field he really didn't feel like putting those to the test.

A dull knock at the door interrupted the gang leader's thoughts and wiped the smile from his face, he had heard that sound many times. "Come in Drudge!" Brusel called out, Koral was still unaccounted for, however considering the job he had given the Iru, Brusel was positive he was probably dead.

The door slid open tentatively as the hulking mass of grey flesh that was Drudge made his way inside Brusel's private quarters. He was roughly eight feet tall and as wide as four men, there was not a hair on his entire body, but probably the most distinguishing feature was the single dull green eye in the center of the Gora. Like most of his people Drudge was powerful beyond belief, that was partially why Brusel had recruited him, however it came with a major flaw that was sometimes incredibly detrimental.

"Uh Boss… Did you feel that?" The poor thing was dumb as bricks. So much so that Brusel had very early on realised he would need an escort whenever he went out, that's where Koral came in. Unfortunatly when his Iru chaperone was away or otherwise indisposed that left Drudge to wander around the compound aimlessly.

"Yes Drudge I did feel that, remember the plan I told you and Koral?" Brusel stood up from his chair and began walking towards the massive Gora who looked to be deep in thought. Placing a reassuring hand on his top enforcer's arm Brusel began to steer him out of the office. "Why don't you take the rest of the day for yourself my boy" Brusel said warmly as they entered a long corridor. The truth was without Koral's constant supervision Drudge was hopelessly lost, never able to really focus unless given a specific task. This would lead to him wandering around the city where he would easily get lost, being tricked by the many denizens of this seedy planet and just outright forgetting what he was supposed to be doing. The Gora was like the universes most powerful toddler and required twice the supervision.

Upon reaching the Gora's room Brusel gave him a reassuring pat on the back "go play my boy have some fun today." Drudge's smile was wide and lopsided revealing row upon row of razor sharp teeth. His species in general was a terrifying sight to behold, if it wasn't for their subpar intelligence they might have become one of the most feared races in the galaxy, next to the Saiyans of course.

As the door closed behind him Brusel sighed contently, all in all it had been a good day. His returns from his crew's latest spree of shakedowns were in and looking promising, the weather was about as good as it would ever get on the sun scorched dirt ball and he had just arranged for the death of one of the galaxy's most feared tyrants. There was however small annoyance that nipped away at that back of his mind. He had just lost the opportunity to fight one of the most powerful beings in the universe, his Saiyan blood thirsted for combat and Brusel had just denied himself that privilege.

As the Saiyan gangster re-entered his office he noticed the light on his communicator was blinking steadily indicating a waiting call. Brusel continued past his desk snatching the communicator with his tail as he made his way to the balcony that overlooked the picturesque garden below. Getting anything to grow on Hermos was a feat in of itself, much less an entire flourishing garden. But when you owned the planet itself just about anything was possible.

Knowing that the call wouldn't simply go away Brusel brought the communicator to his ear and turned it on "Brusel here report."Brusel was greeted by the frantic voice of one of his subordinates but he couldn't tell who nor could he understand what the idiot was saying. "Slow down damn it, now try that again slowly."

Brusel's complexion blanched as his subordinate went through his report. Each word only caused the Saiyan to tighten his hold on the exquisite marble banister until it shattered like glass. As the report reached its conclusion Brusel removed the communicator and crushed it in a mix of anger and frustration. Taking a deep breath Brusel rose into the air making sure his voice could be heard by the entire staff of the grounds "EVERYONE TO BATTLE STATIONS!"

* * *

Aayla's eyes were firmly clamped shut, her ears were ringing with an unholy cacophony of noise, she was lying on something incredibly uncomfortable and to top it all off she had a horrible taste in her mouth. What the hell did she get up to before passing out? The last thing she could remember was entering a dingy looking building alongside Frieza, well that was promising. Slowly her memories started to creep back to her, the warehouse full of crates, the hyperdrive, Boss Brusel and… The explosion!

Upon remembering the massive blast, Aayla's eyes snapped open as she quickly sat up. Looking around she found herself on a sun scorched cliff, how she got there though she didn't remember, she blacked out as she was enveloped in the blast. Looking down she could see her body must have been busy repairing the damage, several of her bones were still stiff indicating breaks and fractures in them and her skin was incredibly tender and a brighter shade of blue where it had been replaced. Not to mention the dried blood that was caked over her body, when she got back to the ship she would need a shower in the worst way.

Looking to her side she saw what was left of her armour neatly stacked in a pile. Sifting through it her heart sank at what she found, it was all ruined her chest piece was a melted twisted mess and her shin guards were shattered in several places, they practically disintegrated as she tried to pick them up. Picking up a slender piece of metal she realised she was holding what was left of the one wrist guards, it was only a small bit of plating that had once covered her forearm, the rest must not have survived the blast. Aayla gingerly placed the piece of armour back down as she pulled her legs up to her chest wrapping her muscular arms around her legs as she did so for comfort.

Those few bits of metal-plastoid had been with her for years surviving wars, natural disasters and planetary destruction. They had been one of the few links she had left to her family, her father had made those for her shortly before sickness took him from her. She could still remember the day he gave her those pieces clear as day.

 _"Here you go honey, if you're going to be a superhero and keep everyone safe you need your own costume right. Best part is this will keep you safe, no one will be able to hurt you in it."_

 _"It's so cool daddy thank you! I love you!"_

 _"I know sweety I love you too" *violent coughing*_

Now because of her own carelessness they were gone. The last thing she had to remember her family, her father and everyone she ever knew back on Secura was now a pile of charred metal. Burying her head in her knees Aayla tried to shut out the rest of the world. The normally attentive Securan didn't even notice the shadow that pass over her.

"Oh good you're finally awake" Aayla was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of an all too familiar voice. Raising her head to confirm what she heard her gaze rested on the descending form of the ivory prince himself.

Frieza had just touched down beside her carrying with him some unconscious humanoid creature. While Aayla could only guess at what she looked like after the blast, she now had a clear view of the Frost Demon who looked like hell. Burns and bruises were scattered across his body and he had several smudges of dirt and grime spread across his normally flawless ivory form. But it was the blood that caught her attention more than anything, it was bright red so it definitely wasn't his own. Looking back down at her own stained skin she pieced together whose it could be pretty quickly, but why was there so much?

"Sorry I wasn't here when you woke up but I spotted this scum" at that Frieza tossed the unconscious person to the ground "and had to go take care of him." Frieza flipped the man over with his foot so his face was exposed to the harsh light. "I overheard him speaking with Brusel just before I arrived, unfortunately it seems his boss now knows we survived his little surprise." Frieza gritted his teeth as he continued to look down at the unconscious man.

"You're going to have to fill me in on what happened" Aayla said as she got to her feet looking down at her body all she was wearing was her skin tight underlining that normally ran under her armour. It was torn and burnt in several places revealing a little too much skin for her tastes.

"Right, well I realised what his plan was just before the blast, I only had enough time to get to you and throw up a hasty shield" Frieza frowned as he looked over the Securan's appearance remembering what she looked like just an hour ago. "The shield wasn't strong enough to stop the entire blast, luckily you seem to have healed up adequately" Frieza's frown deepened as he recalled how close things had been. He purposefully left out the part where he pumped his own Ki into her to keep her alive while her body desperately stitched itself back together. "If you want to see what's left of the city just look over there, it should give you an idea of how big the blast was" Frieza nodded to his left over the cliff as he informed his partner.

"Damn" it was all Aayla could say as she looked down at what was left of the city. The center of the once bustling town was now a five mile crater with not even the smallest sign of life. The buildings that were on the outskirts of the blast were mostly flattened or shattered, no doubt from the intense force of the detonation. Even the buildings at the very outskirts of the city couldn't avoid damage most of them looked like they had been scorched, many had been coloured black while others were burning with intense blue fire. No doubt the radiation from the self-destructing hyperdrive would leave this entire area uninhabitable for decades to come.

"Your armour most likely saved your life, it took the brunt of the blast after my shield fell" Frieza said as he began walking towards a nearby rock his tail swishing back and forth while he did so. Aayla picked up a slight limp in the Frost Demon's stride and his tail was avoiding going too far to his left, he was in worse shape than he wanted to let on. Upon reaching the rock Frieza pulled out a bundle of clothing, nothing fancy just a pair of fresh navy blue pants and a brown shirt to replace Aayla's underlining which by the grace of some higher power had not fallen off of her. "I recovered these from what's left of the town, thought you might need them" Frieza said as handed the bundle over to the still shocked Securan.

"Thanks" Aayla mumbled as she took the clothing, she appreciated the gesture immensely but she was still a little torn up over her armour, especially knowing that it was possibly the only reason she was now alive. "Still looking out for me aren't you dad" Aayla mumbled as she inspected the clothing. "Hey Frieza I'm just going to go get changed ok?" Aayla called out as she picked up the shoes that came with the clothes.

Frieza simply nodded before he went back to the unconscious body he had recovered. Aayla took this time to go behind a tall rock that had just enough curve in its form that it would block any prying eyes from getting a peak. As Aayla slipped the garments on she realised they were a perfect fit, either Frieza got lucky and found clothes that fit her or he had specifically searched out her size. Shaking her head Aayla decided to file away that inquiry for later, there were far more pressing matters to take care of.

"Come on wake up already" Frieza huffed as he prodded the unconscious body with the tip of his foot. Aayla sidled up beside the Frost Demon to glare down at the person Frieza had grabbed, apart from a bruise on the back of his head he seemed to be in good shape, Frieza must have been surprisingly gentle with him.

"I think I can wake him up" Aayla mumbled as she walked over to the man's other side. Taking a few seconds to line up her shot Aayla pulled her fist back before driving it into the man's crotch.

"AAIEEEEEE!" The man cried out jerking awake only to immediately curl into a defensive ball.

"See Frieza that's how you do it" Aayla smirked as the man looked up fearfully at his captors. Bending down to the man's level Aayla used her Lakee to cup the man's chin and force him to look at her directly. "Now then, Frieza says you were hanging around here for Brusel, why don't you tell us about your boss" once again Frieza was taken aback by the icy calm in Aayla's voice.

"I don't know nothing I swear, I-I-I never met the guy, he just sends his orders and I follow them" the panicked man choked out hastily. Frieza noticed that the man's terror stricken eyes dart wildly from himself to the azure warrior who held him in her grasp. He kept trying to make himself as small as possible, clearly he wanted to simply disappear. Whoever this Brusel was he really needed to hire some goons with some backbone.

"Alright, then how much did you tell him about us?" Aayla asked as her Lakee slowly increased its grip on his chin. Aayla knew there wasn't much to be gained from him but what little information that could be gathered could still make a difference. Not to mention this whole mess was getting way to personal for her liking.

"I told him Frieza was still breathing, I actually thought you were dead so I didn't mention you I swear!" the man grimaced as his chin began to ache from the pressure.

"Fine but one last question" Aayla muttered softly at the man who could only nod his head feverishly. "Has he gone after the rest of our crewmates?" Aayla asked her gaze burning a hole through the squirming captive. After almost a minute of constant staring the man finally caved, giving the smallest nod of confirmation possible, but that was Aayla needed. Frieza felt her anger flare as she used her Lakee to pull the man's face directly into her knee. The sound of cracking bone and gushing blood rang out as the man fell back into a state of unconsciousness his nose a bloody, mangled mess.

Frieza was doing his absolute best not to chuckle at the display, such signs of brutality were incredibly uncommon from the Securan. This whole situation was starting to wear on her nerves and Frieza couldn't really blame her, he was just as tired of this whole planet at this point.

"You ready to get going?" Aayla asked Frieza drawing him out of his own thoughts as she passed by.

"Of course, maybe I missed it but did he say where Brusel is hiding?" Frieza inquired as Aayla stretched her arms and legs.

"No he didn't but remember our friend Koral? I still got the coordinates memorized" she tapped the side of her head as she did so. That was a stroke of luck as the datapad they had acquired had been completely atomized in the blast. "We can be there in ten minutes tops" she grinned back at the Frost Demon who returned the gesture before she continued "so want to go crack some skulls?"

"After you my dear" Frieza quipped, bowing as he did so. Aayla smiled at the enigmatic Frost Demon before taking off, however the moment she was no longer facing Frieza her smile quickly slipped away. The man's slight head nod indicating that he had sent his goons after the others stuck in her mind. Cooler, Shuyo and even Tukkan could take care of themselves but if they went after Nadan or the kids, especially Weiss, then Aayla would make sure that a cracked skull was the least of their worries.

* * *

Brusel had minutes, maybe only seconds, before his special guests would arrive. A quick tip off from one of his subordinates let him know that the pair were making a bee-line straight for the compound. Brusel felt a rare surge of trepidation at the thought of the coming battle, something he hadn't felt for years. While his Saiyan blood craved the coming battle his mind told him this wasn't going to be a cakewalk, everything needed to go perfectly for this to work.

There were so many variables to consider, where would Frieza touch down? How damaged were they after the blast? Would Frieza enter with his guard down? Or would he simply show up and blow the entire compound to pieces? Back on Planet Vegeta his brethren had often ridiculed him for being so cautious and not simply punching a solution out of every problem. However while they may not have always seen eye to eye Brusel still held a great admiration for his fallen people.

Thinking back to his fallen comrades, his brothers and sisters brought another feeling he hadn't felt since arriving on this planet. A sense of purpose, Brusel had spent the last twenty odd years aimlessly ruling this planet. In all honesty he didn't have much of an end game in sight apart from amassing riches and weaponry from any ship that caught their interest. He kept in shape by joining in his raiding parties but apart from that he didn't spend a lot of time in combat. But now he had a mission, an important one at that, he was going to kill his people's executioner or die trying.

Oh yes Brusel knew Frieza was the one responsible for the destruction of Planet Vegeta, he had hid most of the evidence artfully, but Brusel had his ways to get what he wanted. In truth he had kept tabs on Frieza for quite some time picking up important bits of information here and there. It wasn't until the past two years that things really got interesting and really caught the Saiyan's attention.

Brusel had learned of Prince Vegeta's open rebellion and the revelation of another Saiyan warrior who was rumoured to be the legendary Super Saiyan. Frieza's apparent defeat at the hands of said legendary warrior on some backwater planet called Namek. On top of that the death of King Cold at the hands of the combined might of this supposed Super Saiyan, Prince Vegeta and another who was also rumoured to be a Super Saiyan as well. Brusel never put much stock in the legend all Saiyan children grew up hearing, but recent events were making him second guess his own scepticism. Finally there was the war on Fuar that lead to the near extinction of the Frost Demons, it was the last bit of information he had obtained and it was some of the best he ever heard. As it turns out the Saiyan was quite the fan of irony.

"Hey boss the techs are done, they say they've done everything they can" one of Brusel's lieutenants stated taking up his post beside his leader. He like most of the others probably wouldn't survive the coming battle but that hardly mattered so long as there was a dead Frost Demon by the end of it.

"Very good" Brusel replied his voice coming off as commanding, everything was finally set the grounds had been altered into a fortress. All of it was concealed of course, the element of surprise was necessary even amongst Saiyans. Turning around to face Drudge and the rest of his men he addressed them with an air of authority that caught the ear of all within the grounds. "Listen up, Frieza is on his way right now, in fact I'd even say he's running a little late" a series of chuckles followed Brusel's attempt to alleviate the mood. "You will all wait in position until I give the signal, once that happens you will give that bastard everything you got, I'm not going to lie to you some of us are going to die today, but take pride knowing that you are helping bring down one of the most powerful beings in the universe."

A ripple of approval and excitement swept through his men, they trusted him with their lives, if he thought they could win then they were all on board. Turning back around Brusel looked once again to the sky only this time he saw two beings flying directly at them one encased in a purple aura while the other encased in a crimson one. Grinning to himself he reached over to the table beside him slipping on his old Saiyan battle fatigues. Brusel may have used his head more than the average Saiyan but the coming battle excited him like nothing else in the universe. He was still a Saiyan and if there's one thing a Saiyan loves more than a good meal, it's an even better fight and Brusel could take pride in that.

* * *

Frieza had seen many mansions over the course of his life and while Brusel's was by no means the most amazing in the universe, Frieza had to admit that it was still impressive considering the planet they were on. It was a massive building with ornate features plastered all over it, Frieza could spot a pool about the size of a spaceship and despite the brutal climate a thriving garden. Turning to the Securan warrior beside him Frieza called out to her "so should I just drop a Death Ball on them and be done with this?"

"No let's make sure he's actually down there, then you can blow it straight to hell" Aayla called back over the roar of the wind. Frieza could still feel the swirling tempest of anger in the Securan, he almost felt bad for the poor fool who thought fighting her would be easier.

With that they both dropped out of the air landing in the middle of the palatial garden, there didn't appear to be anyone about as the pair made their way to the steps that lead to the back of the mansion. As they reached the first stair the doors to the back of the enormous house swung open revealing a man with a long flowing mane of jet black hair, his eyes were similarly coloured and held an animalistic quality to them. But it was his tail that caught Frieza's attention, a brown monkey tail wrapped firmly around the man's waist, he was a Saiyan!

Flashes of golden hair and greenish-blue eyes ran through Frieza's mind as fear gripped his heart. Sensing his change in mood Aayla placed a calming hand over Frieza's tensed up shoulder as the pair glared at the new arrival. He had to calm down this clown may have been a Saiyan but that didn't mean he was the warrior of legend.

"Good evening as you might have guessed I'm Brusel and this is my wondrous home, to what do I owe the pleasure Lord Frieza?" the Saiyan mocked as he glared down at the pair.

Shoving his fear and trepidation down Frieza straightened himself before replying "I usually like to meet the man who's trying to kill me before I wipe them out." The Saiyan smiled at the remark his eyes glinting in the sunlight. Frieza could just barely make out a few strands of grey hair amongst the forest of black. This monkey must have been quite old as Saiyans didn't usually show their age until much later in life.

"Well here I am, unfortunately this is private property and so I will have to ask you to leave" Brusel replied his grin widening. So far so good thought the Saiyan to himself as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation. They were both in the perfect position and neither looked to be on guard, taking an opponent lightly could get you killed. Brusel would have thought that Frieza of all people would understand that after the past two years he had gone through.

"Oh really and who's going to get us to leave? Surely not you monkey" Frieza scoffed but this only widened the Saiyan's grin. It was the same type of cocksure smile that was on the face of every Saiyan before a battle.

"Oh no no no, that's his job" Brusel laughed as he jerked his head upwards.

"DRUDGE SMASH!" The Gora roared as he dropped off the roof. He slammed down right in front of Frieza and Aayla knocking the pair back into the garden from the sudden impact of the hulking, grey behemoth.

"What the hell was that?" Aayla asked as the pair got back to their feet. Neither had been expecting the giant creature and it wasn't like either of them were at one hundred percent.

"It's dead" Frieza hissed as he put wait down on his already injured leg.

"NOW!" Brusel roared at his techs inside the mansion, a moment later massive pylons erupted from the ground surrounding both Aayla and Frieza. As a loud hum emanated from the structures both Ayala and Frieza were slammed into the ground by an unseen force.

"What the hell is this?" Aayla grunted as the she rose to her feet slowly.

Brusel's eyes widened at the sight of the pair getting back to their feet, gritting his teeth he roared at the tech team once again "MAX IT OUT!" The gravity generators topped off at five hundred times galactic standard, there was no way they could pick themselves up from that. A moment later both Frieza and Aayla were slammed back to the ground by the sudden mass shift.

With both immobilized Brusel gave the order for the next step with a quick hand gesture, every one of his men broke from their hiding spots taking up positions around the intruders. With another flick of his wrist every gun battery he had acquired came into view, they had all been stored neatly inside the mansion itself and now had the pair right in their line of fire. Brusel had acquired over a dozen S1D class gun batteries, he had originally intended to use them if his compound ever came under siege but it wasn't difficult to repurpose them for his current predicament. Each of the weapons were designed for ship to ship combat, firing on a single person was well above overkill which suited Brusel just fine.

"OPEN FIRE!" The first volley from the batteries was deafening, drowning out the roar of blaster fire and Ki blasts that followed them. Each blast was on point targeting where the pair had been a moment before. Energy readers confirmed the pair's location, they were still in the thick of the torrent of energy blasts.

"Drudge smash?" The Gora asked from beside Brusel who patted him on the shoulder in response.

"Hopefully you won't need to my boy" Brusel replied as he looked back at the shelling. He knew Frieza was as tough as they come so he wanted to make sure to end this fight now.

After three minutes of constant fire Brusel called his forces off, there was no way anything could have survived that much punishment. "Good job boys you got them" Brusel chuckled as the men around him cheered.

"Oh really? You might want to look again" a sinister voice rang from the cloud of debris. Standing in the middle of the massive crater formed from the shelling stood Frieza and Aayla, the Frost Demon was smirking at the failed attempt on their lives while the azure Securan looked about ready to rip out Brusel's spine. "Well I think we've found the new setting for the training room" Frieza chuckled to his partner as horrified murmurs ran through Brusel's troops.

"Definitely, really helps get the kinks out of your neck" Aayla said flatly as she cracked her neck. The pair began walking forward ignoring the intense gravity trying to force them back down. As they exited the affected area Aayla glared up at the Saiyan fire in her eyes "so that all you got?" The simple question was the final straw for Brusel's forces who immediately dropped their weapons and broke from cover running away, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the duo as possible.

As his forces ran Brusel realised he only had one option left but he needed a moment to get ready. Turning to face the last man under his command Brusel placed both hands on either side of the Gora's face. "Drudge" Brusel said to get the giant's attention "smash." The giant's lopsided grin might have been endearing if it wasn't so horrific, but that hardly mattered as Drudge sprinted towards Frieza.

"He's coming right for us" Frieza remarked drily as the Gora pounded down the stairs. "Do you want this one?" Frieza asked Aayla who took a moment to look over the muscly behemoth.

"Nah I think you got this" Aayla replied as the creature came with range.

"DRUDGE SMASH!" The Gora roared as he brought both arms down on the petit Frost Demon. The impact broke the ground underneath the pair sending chunks of earth and rock flying into the air. Drudge was laughing at the, no doubt, flattened Frost Demon, at least he was until he felt his arms shift involuntarily. Drudge's arms began to rise confusing the Gora, usually when he smashed things they stayed smashed this had never happened before. Looking under his arms he saw the smirking Frost Demon beneath them holding both arms up with a single hand.

"Frieza smash" said the Frost Demon as he slammed his fist into the Gora's face. The impact sent Drudge flying through the air slamming into Brusel's compound destroying everything in his path before exiting out the front. He sailed along for quite a few miles before coming to a halt as he smashed into the side of a mountain, unconscious from the strike alone.

"You know I don't think I ever punched anyone quite that far before, must be a new record" Frieza chuckled as he turned his attention to the last remaining opponent. "Come now monkey surely you can do better than lumpy?" Frieza chided as the Saiyan ignited a single white Ki ball in his right hand. "I really hope you have more than that" Frieza scoffed as the Saiyan's expression darkened.

"I'll show you exactly what I have" Brusel countered as he hurled the ball into the air. The sphere traveled straight up before coming to a stop and exploding in a brilliant flash of light. In its place was a shining sphere that covered everything for miles in brilliant light. All the while the Saiyan was laughing maniacally with his arms spread wide.

"A nice light show indeed, however I've seen far better" Frieza chuckled as he looked back down to the Saiyan. That was when Frieza noticed Brusel's heavy breathing, his red pupils and his expanding muscles. Looking back up at the sphere it all came rushing back, the monkeys had created a way to simulate moonlight at any time to achieve their transformed state. It was a technique that served them well allowing them to choose when they transformed.

Brusel was quickly growing in size as his eyes deepened into twin pools of red, hair was sprouting all across his body and his mouth extended into an enlarged snout. His armour flexed with his expanding size as he cast a shadow down upon Frieza and Aayla. As he finally stopped growing Brusel let out a thunderous roar that could be heard for miles before turning his attention back to the Frost Demon. He took a step forward shaking the ground as his foot came down, to any normal person the sight was no doubt terrifying, Frieza however was hardly fazed.

"You wanted to see what I had Frieza, well here it is the mighty Oozaru!" He roared his voice was now guttural and animalistic reflecting his outward appearance. Reaching down Brusel grabbed part of his own compound ripping it from the foundation, and with a huge swing brought it down upon his enemies. Jumping backwards, and destroying even more of his home, Brusel opened his mouth wide and let loose an immense Ki blast that slammed into the debris where Frieza and Aayla had been. The blast vaporized the pile of rubble and cut a deep trench that stretched all the way into the mountains. With a mighty roar Brusel threw his arms in the air in triumph no one could survive an attack like that.

"HAHAHAHA I AM UNSTOPPABLE IN THIS FORM, SO LONG FRIE-!"Brusel stopped gloating as he stared incredulously at the trench he had dug. Rising from the center of it was an incredibly bored looking Frost Demon and his partner. Neither seemed even remotely fazed by the overwhelming attack.

"So these are the Saiyans you're so scared of?" Aayla asked as Frieza fumed.

"No it's the ones with the golden hair, and I am scared of no one!" Frieza roared back to the Securan who was too busy snickering at his reaction to notice. "Tch whatever I'm ending this farce" Frieza scoffed as he flew up to the great ape before him. "Any last words monkey?" Frieza chided as Brusel's hair stood up in indignation.

"I WILL END Y-!" Brusel's cry was cut short as Frieza planted his fist into the center of the great ape's chest. The decades old armour shattered as Frieza's punch connected, the force of the blow continuing further into Brusel's chest shattering bones, popping blood vessels and shredding any organ unlucky enough to be caught in its path. Unfortunately for the Saiyan gang leader his heart happened to be one of those organs and after a few moments of stunned silence Brusel fell over backwards slamming into the ground with a colossal thud.

"Well that was anti-climactic" Aayla mumbled as she flew up to Frieza's position. Frieza couldn't help but notice her mood had improved somewhat from earlier. He was no longer feeling the surge of murderous rage that was coursing through her just moments ago.

"Yes indeed it was, let's get back to the ship this day's been a complete waste" Frieza sighed as he took off with Aayla in tow. Taking a quick glance back Frieza saw the destruction left behind by the fight, if you could call it that. As he surveyed the destroyed building and the giant dead monkey Aayla slid into his view obscuring the scene. Her normal carefree smile had reappeared and she no longer had the withdrawn look she had since waking up. The light from the planet's twin suns was shining off her azure skin making her quite the sight to behold. Turning back to the horizon Frieza smirked as they flew over an endless sea of rolling sand dunes "perhaps today wasn't a total waste after all."

* * *

"So you had the hyperdrive, and then you let some two-bit, Saiyan gangster blow it up?" Cooler questioned as Frieza pinched the bridge of his nose. The moment both he and Aayla had arrived they were immediately bombarded with question after question. Rather than stand in the corridor listening to the uproar Frieza called a crew meeting in the dining area. Since then the crew of The Nemesis traded stories regaling each other with their exploits, the others had managed to get the ship stocked with enough food to last a year, even accounting for the bottomless pit that was Tyr. In turn Frieza had explained the entire series of events leaving out a few choice pieces here and there. Frieza couldn't help but notice the way Shuyo looked at him as he glossed over certain parts or omitted them from the story.

"First off no we did not have it, pay attention brother, the chimp had already taken it and turned it into a bomb by the time we got there" Frieza said as he took a sip of wine. "Second if we had taken that thing aboard and it went off we'd be stuck on this dirt ball." At that Shuyo's head snapped up from his meal his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I think everything turned out about as well as we could have hoped" Shuyo stated flatly as he took a bite from one of the sandwiches Tukkan had made them. Everyone was starving and gladly digging into their freshly procured supplies.

"See Shuyo agrees with me" Frieza said to his brother smugly who only rolled his eyes in return. "Besides you took care of the food situation which was the more pressing matter, now that we won't starve we can move forward and get off this rock." Frieza's decree was met with a surprising round of cheers and smiles, it seemed almost all of them wanted to get off Hermos as fast possible.

"Hey Frieza can we wait for like, I don't know, a day or two more I got a few things I wanted to take care of before we leave" Tukkan asked as he began clearing the tables of the used dishes.

"Is it a woman?" Frieza asked flatly to which Tukkan nodded his head a timid smile spreading over his face as he did so. "Nadan start the engines I want off this planet five minutes ago" Frieza said causing the Konatsian chef's smile to evaporate.

As everyone began leaving the table to prep for takeoff Frieza motioned for Shuyo to follow him. They made their way out into the hallway taking several turns to ensure they were away from the others, Frieza needed to clear this up but he wanted to do it quietly. "I couldn't help but notice during our recount of today's events that you weren't really surprised by any of it" Frieza said as the stoic monk came to a halt.

"Yes after the explosion I began following your Ki signatures to make sure you were both alright" Shuyo responded coolly. Frieza couldn't tell if the man was lying, as always his expression rarely gave away what was going on inside his head. But he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, the monk had so far given him no reason to distrust him.

"So you were able to follow both of us from halfway across the planet?" Frieza asked incredulously, there was no way he could have sensed them from that far.

"I was, in fact I felt Aayla's energy almost flicker out after the explosion and I could feel you pumping your own energy into her to keep her alive, I will admit I was curious why you left that part out of your story but I'm sure you have your reasons." Frieza couldn't believe it, he had purposefully left out that part of the story to cover for Aayla and to keep up his own appearance. Yet somehow Shuyo was able to pick up such minute details from across the planet.

"Very well then" Frieza said his resolve now set "if that's the case I want you to teach me how to sense energy like that." Not being able to sense energy had so far been a massive detriment, in fact ever since the debacle on Namek Frieza had put it on his 'to-do list' but just never found the time to do so. Better late than never Frieza thought to himself.

After a few moments of thinking Shuyo nodded slowly, looking back down to the ivory Frost Demon he responded with a slight smirk on his face "I will do it on condition."

"Name it" Frieza said without hesitation.

"The next time we have to land on a desert planet I get to stay onboard" Shuyo smiled at the confused look on Frieza's face. There was not a single moment on Hermos that Shuyo had enjoyed, if he could avoid similar experiences in the future he would gladly do so.

"Alright not what I was expecting but you have a deal" Frieza said as he shook the towering monk's hand. This was perfect, it was exactly what he needed, he had been at a disadvantage to both Goku and Shuyo himself when they fought but now he could put himself on a level playing field. Within a weeks' time he would learn how to sense energy bringing him one step closer to his revenge against the Super Saiyan. How hard could it be to learn anyway?

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone and so concludes the Hermos arc which I now realise was essentially a filler arc. But hey what's Dragon Ball without a little filler am I right?**

 **Obviously main point of the chapter was furthering Frieza and Aayla's relationship. I tried a different method this time using smaller acts to show off how close they are, instead of the larger ones I used in the previous chapter. Also another look into Aayla's past as well as the reason why she grew up without a family to watch over her, I felt bad destroying her armour but don't worry I got a plan for that in the future.**

 **Another aspect I wanted to emphasize is just how much more powerful Frieza and co are when compared to the rest of the regular universe. So unfortunately I had to steam roll both Drudge and Brusel to really hammer home that point.**

 **As I said last chapter I won't be releasing a new chapter next week instead I'll be combing through the older chapters fixing grammatical errors and making subtle changes to the story. I will say chapter 1 in particular is going to have a major make over so you guys might want to check that out especially.**

 **For chapter 15 I'll be officially introducing the first movie villain (Cooler's a good guy in this story so he doesn't count) to the story so I'm very excited about that. And they will be a legit threat to Frieza and the others so we'll be getting back into full action at that point.**

 **You guys have been awesome over 10k in views that is awesome the feedback you guys have given has been wonderful. As always if you want to talk hit me up, thanks again for your time and I really hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	15. Chapter 15 - Tree of Plot Convenience

"Well? Where is it?" Shuyo asked a blindfolded Frieza as the pair sat in the training room. For over a week now Shuyo had been trying to teach Frieza how to sense energy, but the Frost Demon just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. One of the tests Shuyo had created to see if Frieza was making any progress was to form a small ball of concentrated Ki and have it float around the room. The task was simple, Frieza had to sense where the sphere was without cheating, hence the blindfold. The sphere itself was so packed with energy that Shuyo had to keep a careful eye on it to ensure it didn't destabilize and detonate. It should have been easy with the sphere acting like a beacon but once again Frieza was having no luck locating it.

"Grrr I don't know, over there!" Frieza barked as he pointed in the complete opposite direction of the sphere. The defeated sigh coming from Shuyo was the only answer he needed to know that he was once again mistaken. Frieza had believed the process would have been simple, hell if those weak Earthlings could figure it out then surely the most powerful being in the universe could. But for over a week now Frieza was met again and again with failure each time he and Shuyo stepped foot in the training room.

After the first few days with no success Frieza was convinced that it was simply because Shuyo was an inadequate teacher. To see if that was the case Aayla stated she would join them, Weiss, Tyr, Raijin and Tukkan eagerly joined in as well wanting to learn the ability for themselves. Cooler stated he had better things to do and Nadan said he had no use for such lessons so both opted out when asked.

After about ten minutes Aayla had picked up the trick smirking at the angered Frost Demon as she picked up the exact locations of everyone on the ship with perfect accuracy. Frieza waved it off stating the Securan's unique genetics were what allowed her to pick up the technique. About an hour after that Tukkan had learned it as well alongside Tyr a few minutes after that. Raijin followed suit shouting triumphantly as he did so, leaving only Frieza and his own protégé. This brought rise to the thought that perhaps his people were simply unable to sense another being's energy. That thought process lasted a whole five minutes as just as Frieza was beginning to convince himself the young girl beside him exclaimed in triumph.

The five of them had already mastered, in just over two hours, what Frieza was still failing to do for over a week. The idea infuriated him that somehow he wasn't good enough to learn something that was supposedly so easy. Shuyo had offered to bring in Cooler to see if he could assist with the situation however Frieza immediately vetoed that idea. If Cooler somehow managed to sense energy before him then he may very well just give up on the idea completely.

"This isn't working at all is it" Shuyo sighed as he stood up to stretch his back, they had been sitting for what was going on three hours and clearly there had been no improvement. Looking down at the Frost Demon Shuyo could feel the anger rippling off of him as he clenched his fists trying to calm himself to no avail. It was strange, Shuyo had taught many people in the past how to feel the energies of others but Frieza seemed to be distinctly unresponsive to the ways that had worked for countless others on Shuyo's travels. The stoic monk had a feeling he knew what it was but would rather not voice his opinion lest he anger the already agitated Frost Demon.

Sensing the Ki of another living being was something that required you to look into another person's very soul. To see, hear, smell, taste and feel the very life energy that linked them to this mortal world was something that at its core was very impersonal. It had nothing to do with one's own power but relied on feeling the Ki of someone or something else entirely. Shuyo feared that perhaps Frieza was simply too self-centered to accept such a technique. Even if he actively wanted to learn, his subconscious could very well be blocking him from doing so.

"Perhaps we are going about this in the wrong direction" Shuyo murmured as Frieza removed the blindfold. There must be some way to get him to learn but how? Shuyo asked himself as Frieza looked around the room until his eyes fell on the floating ball of Ki staring it down as if the energy had personally wronged him.

"Frieza I need some clarification" Shuyo requested causing Frieza to slowly nod his head for the monk to continue. "Do you know what energy actually feels like?" Shuyo asked staring at his temporary pupil intently.

"Isn't that the whole point of these lessons?" Frieza grumbled out as he tapped his knee impatiently.

"My apologies I should have phrased that differently" Shuyo took a moment to gather his thoughts before turning back to the Frost Demon before him. "Can you feel your own energy? Can you feel it coursing through you when you power up?" Perhaps the best way to teach Frieza was to look at things from a self-centred perspective. If he could feel his own power then maybe he could begin to reach out further. It was a completely different way of looking at it but Shuyo was out of other options.

"Of course I can feel my own power, how the hell could I not?" Frieza scoffed at the idea. There was no one in the universe who knew of his power like he did, except perhaps Aayla at this point.

"Excellent, so you do know what to search for, perhaps we just need you to start with looking for something more familiar, you may not be accustomed to my Ki yet. Tell me if you were to close your eyes and unleash a Ki blast would you be able to control it even without your sight?" Shuyo asked, this was the key moment to see if his train of thought was correct.

Frieza frowned in confusion not understanding the monk's questioning but slowly nodded his head in confirmation.

Shuyo grinned triumphantly "fantastic so you already know how to sense energy" to that Frieza's brow furrowed. Before he could interrupt however Shuyo continued on "you can sense energy, your own energy quite well, you just have never needed to feel others so we just need to start you off with something similar." Shuyo grinned once again at Frieza's confused expression "search out Cooler, your Ki signatures are very alike, search for him as if you were searching for yourself."

Frieza reluctantly closed his eyes once more to concentrate, finding his brother's location couldn't be that hard right? But even after several minutes of intense concentration he still couldn't ascertain the older Frost Demon's location. "This is impossible" Frieza barked as he threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"Really you didn't find him at all?" Shuyo asked disappointedly.

"No I couldn't, in fact the only person on this whole damn ship I can find is Aayla and that's just because of the mental bond" Frieza spat back angrily. Frieza would have continued his angered rant if not for the questioning look on the monk's face. "What?" Frieza questioned as Shuyo looked down to him.

"You just said you know where Aayla is" Shuyo stated as Frieza ground his teeth in continued frustration.

Still unsure of what the monk was getting at Frieza answered guardedly "yes but not because I can feel her energy it's because of the-"

"Mental bond" Shuyo finished for him, much to the Frost Demon's annoyance. "Explain what you mean by that I believe I'm in need of context."

And so Frieza went into a brief summary of the bond he and his bodyguard shared. It had been established at some point back on Fuar during their daily training sessions, both could feel each other's presence and speak to each other mentally. It was one of the reasons they were so coordinated during a fight and how they seemed capable of planning in the heat of battle.

"So you can feel Aayla right this very moment, even communicate with her if you want?" Shuyo inquired this might just be the last chance to make some kind of progress.

"Of course" Frieza stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.

"Alright ask her to power up, not to her max but enough to get noticed" Shuyo requested to which Frieza simply nodded.

'Aayla, it's Frieza' Frieza stated mentally.

'No duh I don't have too many other voices in my head you know' Aayla chuckled back to her boss. 'Also remember what I said about talking to me while I'm taking a bath? If you're gonna do it at least have the decency to join me' she purred seductively forcing Frieza to roll his eyes. Over the weeks since Hermos Aayla had become far more… forward with her advances. It was an area that Frieza admittedly had little experience with, there had always been something else to deal with.

'Anyways could you power up, nothing too intense' Frieza requested trying to ignore the Securan's attempts at flirtation.

'Fine spoil sport, how's this?' she inquired as Frieza detected her elevated power.

'Perfect thanks' Frieza replied before turning back to Shuyo who was staring at him expectantly. "Well there you go she powered up, if I had to say she's not even putting out one percent of her power right now." Frieza crossed his arms waiting for the monk's reply but was only greeted with silence as the edge of Shuyo's lips twitched.

"Frieza… how long have you been able to tell how strong Aayla is?" Shuyo muttered slowly. Trying to wrap his head around the idea of Frieza of all people forming a mental bond was a hard pill to swallow. At first Shuyo had believed the Frost Demon was simply mistaken but he had just witnessed it firsthand. Those types of bonds were exceedingly rare and could only be formed between two beings that had grown incredibly close to one another. Shuyo would have never guessed someone who seemed as self-centred as Frieza capable of such a thing, however the months he had spent aboard The Nemesis had changed quite a bit of what he thought he knew.

"I would say a few months after we met, why do you ask?" Frieza inquired at the normally stoic monk.

"I see" was all he could say in return. A mental bond was an incredibly rare thing and had a multitude of uses. It allowed for seamless communication, emotional empathy much like Shuyo's natural ability and brought a sense that one never had to be alone. Truly it was a gift many would kill for, but the one thing it didn't provide was the ability to sense the other's specific energy level right down to the percentage.

'Eight days' Shuyo thought to himself his mental voice filled with venom as the realisation sunk in. 'Eight fracking days, we've wasted in this room and the idiot's been able to sense energy the whole time, he's just been too self-absorbed to focus beyond himself and his not-girlfriend!' Whipping his head up Shuyo stared down the Frost Demon with a hint of malice in his gaze, he had not been this mad since Hermos.

"What?" Frieza asked taking a step back as the green monk tried to reign in his anger.

After several silent seconds Shuyo lifted his head to meet Frieza's gaze "you have been able to sense energy on your own for a long time now." Frieza was about to retort but was cut off by Shuyo's raised hand. "We will just have to focus on getting you used to sensing others, not just yourself and Aayla." Spinning away before Frieza could respond Shuyo pressed his fingers to the side of his head massaging his temple tenderly.

'Is this what it was like teaching me Master?' The monk asked his beloved mentor. He knew no response would come but he felt like he had a pretty good idea what his response would be.

 _"If only you knew my boy."_

* * *

"Alright who wants this one?" Amond said holding one of the latest spiky fruits spawned from the Tree of Might. The large second in command of The Crusher Corps had taken on the responsibility of making sure everyone got an equal share in what Turles allowed them to have.

"Over here" Daiz called out from above, he was perched on a branch watching over the desolate landscape of… huh he had completely forgotten the name of the planet they were on. They had gone to so many worlds over the past month that they had actually lost track of which planet was which. The former prince of the Pupkinpa Dynasty caught the fruit as it sailed over to him. Taking a quick bite his entire body quickly expanded before returning to its normal state. It was an unpleasant experience eating the fruit, which also tasted awful, but the payoffs were well worth it.

"Say, Cacao how many planets are left in the system?" Amond asked trying to figure out how much longer it would take to clear out the region. They had originally planned to head to the planet Earth where their probe had landed however the recent war between the GFM and PTO forced them to take a detour, one that lead them straight to the Bogon Cluster. The entire region was packed with planets full of life and beauty, all of them prime candidates for the Tree of Might to take route. They had encountered less and less resistance as they travelled from one planet to the other in the cluster their own power skyrocketing with each successful harvest.

The powerful cyborg touched down beside the group joining Daiz on his branch standing perfectly still before answering "four more planets can sustain the tree if we plant it, the other six are not worth the effort, I say we just wipe those ones out."

At that both Raisin and Lakasei jumped up to face the menacing cyborg, both Beenz bore identical scowls. "We blow them up after we get what technology they have available, I know at least one of those planets has some interesting tech on it and Turles promised we would get a look at it" Raisin said crossing his arms.

"Agreed brother" Lakasei chimed in as he crossed his own arms. "But after this sector what's the next step?" The purple twin asked as he finished off his own fruit feeling his power surge once again.

"I know Turles wants to keep heading for Earth, he says there's a Saiyan that resides there, I can't remember what he said his name was though" Amond stated cracking his knuckles feeling the overwhelming power he had gained alongside his teammates.

"Kakarot, his name is Kakarot" the Crusher Corps all turned around as their leader emerged from the depths of the tree throwing away the core of another fruit as he did so. "From what the probe showed us, he's done a piss poor job of wiping out the inhabitants, his time on that planet has made him soft" Turles said as he stretched his arms. "We'll give him a choice when we get there either he can join us or we destroy him, simple as that" Turles grinned as the rest of his crew chuckled. He had personally selected each one of these warriors to join him on his journey each one had shown their drive and strength when he had met them, and they had only become more powerful as time went on. The rogue Saiyan was confident that their small group of six had already surpassed the Frieza Force in terms of strength and Turles himself was quickly on track to becoming the strongest being in the universe.

"YOU MONSTERS!" a shrill yell called out from the base of the Tree causing the six warriors to look down. Standing their ground were several fighters of various races, all of them had looks of pure rage and determination as they all began to power up.

"They seem to want to fight us, foolish but commendable" Turles said as he gazed down at the group. Perhaps one of them could make a new addition to the Corps, they were always looking for new members after all. A quick check of his scouter quickly dashed Turles' hopes, their most powerful fighter didn't even break five hundred. Sighing to himself Turles waved at the rest of the group "they're all yours, go have some fun but we're out of here in one hour."

The five members of the Crusher Corps saluted before grinning viciously, they quickly hopped from their perch streaking to the ground below. As the sounds of Ki blasts, explosions and the death screams of this planet's measly defenders filled the air Turles thought of Kakarot as well as the rest of his race. His people were almost completely gone, not even a handful remained. Kakarot was on Earth and Raditz, his brother, had apparently been killed by him some time ago, to think the sons of Bardock could turn out to be such disappointments was just disheartening. Prince Vegeta had disappeared completely, but before going under the radar he had apparently rebelled against Frieza getting out from under the Frost Demon's grip. Nappa had also disappeared however there were rumours the brainless oaf had been executed by Vegeta himself. Then there was Brusel, well Turles would shed no tears for that underachieving fool, Frieza had personally ended his life only a few weeks prior.

That meant that only he, Kakarot and Prince Vegeta remained of the Saiyan race, a sobering thought but not a new one. Ever since the loss of their home Turles knew that eventually the Saiyans would die out. That thought was what drew him to the Tree of Might, the fruit had many amazing properties apart from the outrageous increase to one's power. The spiky wonders also granted extended life and could even be used to revive the dead as he proved when he brought both Raisin and Lakasei back from their race's thousand year extinction.

As long as there are planets left that can bear the Tree then he and his crew would live forever and outlast all others. It was a pleasant thought to know that when the universe eventually comes to its inevitable end the last one standing would be a Saiyan.

* * *

"My Lord, come take a look at this" Nadan called out to Frieza who was sitting in the captain's chair of The Nemesis. Nadan was busy at his work station going over the stream of data building up on the console as Frieza came up behind him with his arms crossed.

"What am I looking at exactly?" Frieza inquired at the stream of information on the monitor unable to decipher the unending torrent.

"Oh not at this just look at the viewport" Nadan said as he hurriedly tapped in a few commands at a blinding speed. The viewport of the bridge suddenly began zooming in on the planet before them, it was still about half an hour away but The Nemesis' state of the art scanners and range finders had allowed Nadan to fill the entire viewport with the planet in question.

"Alright, yes that's Florana what about it?" Frieza asked the Malakan as he sidled up beside the Frost Demon.

"Do you notice anything in particular about it my Lord?" Nadan asked as Cooler joined the pair his arms crossed as he studied the planet intently.

"It's dead" Cooler stated flatly, eyes running across the surface. "Florana is known for having vast oceans and sprawling jungles, or at least it was" the older Frost Demon stated, his brow now furrowed as he looked upon the planet. He had spent a few days away from Fuar with Salza, Dore and Neiz on this very world. It was a little self-imposed vacation to lift the groups spirits, Cooler wasn't usually one for taking breaks but they had been traveling for weeks on end and the boys had earned some time off. Come to think of it Cooler had needed it as well, if for no other reason than to get away from his father. The thoughts of his now dead father and comrades once again brought a bitter pain to the Frost Prince's heart.

"You're right" Frieza stated from beside him snapping his brother from his thoughts. "But look at the surface, no damage at all, so most likely not a meteor impact or Ki blast, the whole thing looks rotten" Frieza was studying the terrain which was an unhealthy mix of greys, browns and blacks. Frieza had seen many destroyed worlds in his time, hell he caused most of them but never before had he seen one like this. It looked like the life had been drained from the planet itself.

"What do the scans say about the planet" Cooler asked Nadan who looked up with a grim expression on his face.

"The atmosphere's there, barely, I would not advise anyone but you, Lord Frieza or Weiss stepping foot on it, I believe what little air is left is probably toxic." Nadan ran a hand through his cyan hair anxiously, he had never heard of this before let alone seen it, the latest reports, which were barely a week old, stated Florana was supposedly as healthy as ever. In fact the planet was entering the cycle of its rotation where its growth rate should have been swelling instead it was now a barren wasteland.

"Seismic scans say the ground's incredibly unstable, it's surprising the planet's still in once piece" Nadan stated seriously as he poured over fresh readings his eyes widening as he did so. "Thermogeologic scans show the core's completely gone! That's not possible all that's left is the crust!" Nadan shouted as more information poured onto his datapad.

"If all that's left is the crust then what's holding the thing together?" Frieza asked incredulously, the whole situation was putting him on edge.

"There's something that's networked throughout the planet, it's the only thing holding it together" Nadan stated as he made his way back to his work station.

"Well do you know what that something is?" Frieza questioned the busied scientist as he looked over more notes.

"The focal point should be on the horizon in a few moments" Nadan stated as he rushed back the viewport magnifying on spot in particular in the planets, northern hemisphere.

After a few moments of tense silence both Frieza and Cooler's eyes widened in shock as they saw what had just appeared on the planet's horizon. "What the hell?" Cooler said as he stared at the screen in disbelief.

"Holy crap that's a big tree!" Weiss shouted as she entered the bridge alongside Aayla, both girls couldn't believe what the viewport was showing.

"My dear don't use that kind of language, it's beneath you" Frieza scolded the young Demoness who looked down bashfully. Turning back to the viewport Frieza eyed the colossal tree, much like the rest of the planet it looked dead but the fact that they could see it from space was a clear sign it was not a normal tree. "Nadan what do you make of it?" Frieza asked the Malakan scientist who could only shrug his shoulders.

"I've never seen anything like it, that's the biggest tree I've ever heard of and its roots are the only things keeping the planet together" Nadan stated worriedly. "I say we stay clear of it, the planet could collapse on itself at any moment and we don't want to be around when it does."

"Very well then, we bypass it and move on, are there any other planets nearby where we can make a stop?" Frieza inquired as The Nemesis began changing course away from the imposing tree.

"A few my Lord the Bogon system's known for having some of the most flourishing worlds in the universe" Nadan responded as he took a seat at his station, pulling up a star chart as he did so. "Most of the planets are highly populated and resource rich, the closest one appears to be Terraphosis, would you like me to change our heading?"

Seating himself back in the captain's chair Frieza rested his chin on his fist as he continued to stare down what was left of Florana. "Make it so" Frieza finally responded, something about this whole situation didn't feel right to him, then again an entire world rotting away over night was nothing to take lightly. Frieza hoped he could get answers to this mystery when they reached Terraphosis, the planet was only an hour away and would hopefully give them the answers they needed.

* * *

It would seem that luck was not on Frieza's side Just like Florana before it Terraphosis was merely a broken shell of what it once was. The once bustling metropolitan city-planet had been sucked dry but unlike Florana had not been able to retain its shape, breaking apart and forming a massive debris field. They were currently passing what was left of the planet Tiberius it was the eighth planet they had passed in this rotten state and they all had one thing in common, the same enormous tree jutting out of the surface and into the atmosphere. Frieza sat in the captain's chair drumming his finger on the arm rest as Nadan went over the report on the planet's status.

"There's nothing else I can say my Lord, it's the same as all the others, every ounce of life and energy on the planet was drained away and all that remains is one of those giant trees" Nadan said solemnly.

Frieza stood up in agitation, making his way over to the viewport to look out at the deceased planet and more specifically the gargantuan tree that had apparently taken its life. Turning around to face Shuyo Frieza cocked his eyebrow before addressing him "have you heard of anything like this before?" Shuyo had spent most of his life traversing the universe hopefully he had come across something in those travels.

The green monk slowly crossed his arms in thought as he racked his memories. After a few silent moments Shuyo creased his forehead recalling an old tale his master had once told him. "There is one thing but it's nothing more than a legend I don't believe there's any hard proof" he said slowly gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

"Well lay it on us big green" Tukkan chuckled from the corner once again doing his best to lighten the mood. The entire crew had become increasingly grim as they passed planet after planet each one dead and drained of all life.

"It's an old story my master once told me, it was about the Tree of Might, however it apparently goes by many names, the Tree of the Gods, the God Spirit Tree, the Shinray Tree, the Eternal Tree… The Tree of Death" Shuyo trailed off putting everyone on edge.

"Well that's ominous" Tukkan stated from his seated position beside Tyr and Raijin.

"Legend has it that this tree is supposed to produce fruit for the Kais themselves to sustain their power and longevity" stated the stoic monk as he looked at the dead world before them. "The tree cannot survive on just any planet, it requires one rich in life and energy as in order to grow it must drain the life force from the very world itself." A stifling silence filled the bridge as everyone stared at the latest tree. A minute passed before Shuyo cleared his throat garnering the crew's attention again "It is also said that anyone who eats of the fruit will feel their strength increase by leaps and bounds."

"If that legend of yours is true then that means that we have an extremely powerful individual, or many hopping from planet to planet draining each one and boosting their own power" Cooler stated leaning against the left hand wall of the bridge.

"Precisely and judging by what we have seen so far I would wager that the legend may carry some merit" Shuyo stated watching the older Frost Demon nod his head in acceptance.

"Nadan tell me how many planets are there in this sector?" Frieza asked looking at his science officer expectantly.

"The final count for this sector in particular my Lord rests at sixty eight, and before you ask fifty seven of them can be considered energy rich environments" Nadan called out from his work station. He wasn't one to believe in nonsense such as legends about magical trees that fed the gods themselves but he was a man of science. And as a man of science with no equal in the universe (by his own account) he was one to spot a parasite when he saw one.

"Thank you, now let's assume that whoever's behind this hasn't moved on yet or finished off the sector for a moment" Frieza had now stood up and was addressing his entire crew before him. "That means they are still in this sector and should be dealt with immediately" Frieza's tail smacked the ground with a resounding ring to emphasize his point.

"Well Frieza I wasn't expecting you to care so much" Cooler teased from his side of the room, gaining a scowl from Aayla as he did so.

"Nonsense brother, my motives are simple, you eliminate a pest while it is on your doorstep not when it has infiltrated your home" Frieza walked back to the captain's chair punching a few quick commands into the side. The viewport shifted to a map of the galaxy which quickly zoomed in on their area in the Bogon Cluster. "Here we are now" Frieza indicated pointing at the mass of planets that made up the sector "and here is our territory" as if on command a large portion of the map changed from light blue to dark purple indicating PTO territory. True to Frieza's words the Bogon Cluster was pressed right up against the very edge of PTO space. "We will eliminate these pests, whoever they are before they become a larger threat" Frieza stated as he retook his seat.

"Fair enough but how are we supposed to find them?" Cooler asked. The older Frost Demon was ready for a fight but if they couldn't find their opponents then they'd be blindly searching for who knows how long.

"If they've been stuffing their faces with god fruit then I would expect they should be easy to sense, isn't that right Shuyo?" Frieza asked the green monk who nodded in confirmation. If they focused they could search out in all directions, anyone who has eaten from the Tree of Might should stand out like a beacon especially around the desolated worlds.

"Yes well I can't sense energy like the rest of you" Cooler grumbled as the rest of the crew closed their eyes to focus each reaching out in a separate direction.

"Well perhaps you should have taken Shuyo's generous offer and let him teach you" Frieza chided from his seat. After determining that Frieza had already known how to sense energy it was a simple matter for Shuyo to teach the Frost Prince how to broaden his range and sense more than just himself and Aayla. He had started out small only able to sense things within a few feet of himself, but that limitation was quickly surpassed and soon Frieza's ability to sense others matched that of the rest of the crew. It was simply another triumph for the Frost Demon, one that he would take great pleasure lording over Cooler while he could.

After several moments of silence where no one dared make a sound, lest they break someone else's concentration, Raijin jumped from his seat beside Tukkan all four blue eyes wide in shock. "I-I think I feel them!" he exclaimed as he pointed to the starboard side of the ship "they're really strong" Raijin muttered as the rest of the crew focused on the direction Raijin had pointed.

Sure enough as Frieza focused on the area on The Nemesis' starboard side he felt what the rest were now feeling six incredible energy signatures. It was hard to gauge but five of them seemed to be on par with Aayla and Cooler, the sixth however exceeded all of them. There was something about that energy that brought with it a sense of foreboding, something about it felt… familiar to the Frost Demon but he couldn't place it. In any case they had found the pests and now they needed to be exterminated, Frieza would not allow anyone to encroach on his territory while his kingdom was in a weakened state.

With a smirk on his face Frieza stood once again clenching his fist before him, bracing for the coming battle. "Let's show these fools what happens when you cross the Frieza Force" Frieza commanded as Aayla stepped up beside him rolling her eyes at the cheesy line.

"I think we should work on that name a little, but yeah let's go knock some heads" the Securan chuckled as the ship set a new course.

* * *

"Dum Dum Dum another one bites the dust" Amond sang as he took a bite from yet another Fruit of Might.

"Cut it out" Daiz cut in as he tried to relax on a branch above the rest of the Corps. Eating the fruit always made him a little drowsy, which was odd considering the massive power boost he was receiving. Unfortunately Amond usually decided this was the best time to break out into song, just to get on the nerves of the rest of the team no doubt.

"Ba Da Dum Dum Dum another one bites the dust" Amond was doing his best not to laugh at the annoyed expressions he was getting from his teammates.

"I swear if you don't shut it right now I'm gonna come down there and-"

"AND ANOTHER ONE GONE, AND ANOTHER ONE GONE, ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!" Amond roared to drown out Daiz's nagging. The interaction between the two brought a smile to Turles who was busy looking over the ripening fruits in the hollow of the Tree. "HEY, I'M GONNA GET YOU, TOO-" the sound of his second in command trailing away caught Turles' attention, the large bruiser never missed a moment to finish one of his songs something must be up. "Yeah go tell Turles, he's gonna want to hear this" the sound of metallic footsteps echoing in the hollow of the Tree indicated Cacao was approaching apparently with important news.

Turning around to face the cyborg bounty hunter the first thing Turles noted was the absence of Cacao's scouter and the scorch mark on the side of his head. "What is it?" the rogue Saiyan asked as Cacao absentmindedly brushed the side of his head.

"A ship just touched down one point two miles south east from this location" Cacao stated standing perfectly still as he gave his report. Turles raised an eyebrow in response waiting for the cyborg to continue. "Its design doesn't match any known makes in my database, most likely custom made."

"And?" Custom made ships were nothing new, hell Raisin and Lakasei had personally designed theirs from scratch.

"There are markings along the hull that indicate they are affiliated with the Frieza Force." That got the rogue Saiyan's attention, the Bogon Cluster was incredibly close to PTO space, it wasn't too unbelievable that word had reached Frieza's little empire about the planets in the system going dark. No doubt that greedy Frost Demon would want to make sure no one was encroaching on his territory, he probably sent out a scouting party to investigate.

"Excellent, it was only a matter of time before we crossed path with Frieza's army, no doubt they'll be heading this way to investigate." Turles was getting excited, the resistance on these last few planets was a joke at best. Whether that was because of their lack of competent fighters or just his crew's ever growing strength really didn't matter, they were all itching for a good fight. Turles' view focused once again on the scorch mark on the side of Cacao's head snapping him from his thoughts. "What happened to your scouter?" He asked the impassive cyborg.

"I attempted to acquire a scan of their ship and its crew but the damn thing exploded before I could get a reading" Cacao replied quickly. He knew scouters weren't exactly a dime a dozen but with any luck they could pick one up from the ship that just landed.

"Interesting, then they're quite powerful" Turles smiled wide as he thought of the oncoming challenge, hopefully these new arrivals would prove to be adequate adversaries. "Go inform the others, let's prepare a welcoming party for our guests" dispatching these troops would send a clear message to Frieza. The rotten Frost Demon had all but wiped out his people and while Turles didn't care for any of them in particular he did still have the pride of a Saiyan. He would avenge his people as a whole starting with whoever was foolish enough to face him and his men.

* * *

"Well this is lovely" Frieza commented as he stepped foot on the parched ground. Looking around the now barren landscape of Bogden Frieza once again felt that nagging feeling of unease from before. There was an energy in the air that felt eerily familiar but just like before he couldn't place it.

"Damn" Aayla stated as she joined up with Frieza they were standing on the shore of what had once been a massive lake. It was now completely dried up, the corpses of various wildlife and people were littered about, whoever was responsible for this had been busy as the signs of combat were blatant on their deceased forms.

A sad sniff caught Frieza and Aayla's attention from behind them, turning around they saw Weiss kneeling down and picking up a bright yellow bird, the tips of its feathers were marked with a lilac tinge, and it had a long ebony beak.

A rare pang of regret flooded Frieza as he watched the young girl cup her hand over the deceased bird. Part of the Frost Demon told him that a child shouldn't have to be subjected to the grim site presented before them but the young Demoness refused to stay put. Frieza then felt as she began sending her own Ki into the bird, trying to revive it no doubt. Frieza was about to tell her it was of no use but before he could the bird sprang to life whipping its head back and forth before locking eyes with Weiss who smiled back at it. The bird took to the air and circled their group before landing on Weiss' shoulder and chirping happily.

As the rest of the crew disembarked The Nemesis Weiss made her way over to both Frieza and Aayla a rare look of shyness covering her features. "C-can I keep her?" she asked timidly as the bird's chirping echoed across the desolate terrain.

Caving almost immediately under the young girl's pleading gaze Frieza pinched the bridge of his nose as he waved his hand outwards. "Very well, but if you're coming with us it stays on the ship with Nadan and Tukkan" Frieza responded, he truly had immense difficulty saying no to the child.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed happily wrapping her arms around his waist before turning around to re-enter the ship passing Cooler who was just then exiting.

"We're collecting birds now brother?" Cooler chuckled at the annoyed expression Frieza now bore. He too was gazing over the desolate landscape, scrunching his nose at the smell that met his nostrils. The whole place smelt of death and decay, if this was the cost for feeding a Kai then Cooler made a mental note to eliminate them at the earliest convenience.

"She asked so I said yes, we won't be making a habit of it" Frieza replied drily as the rest of the group arrived, Weiss running back out of the ship to join the group. Facing the entire group Frieza cleared his throat before continuing "first thing's first we check out that tree" he pointed at the massive tree just off in the distance. "That's where those power levels are coming from so the seven of us will investigate, Nadan will be staying with the ship and observing us with one of his probes. As if on cue a small black orb descended from above looking at everyone in order before making its way across the landscape to find a good vantage point. "Tukkan will be guarding Nadan and the ship so we can get off this dirt ball once we're done, any questions."

When no one spoke up Frieza nodded before taking off towards the towering tree in the distance, quickly followed by Cooler, Aayla, Shuyo, Weiss, Tyr and Raijin. It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination and as they made their landing Frieza spotted the forms of five warriors. They were a motley crew to say the least, one a hulking Beppan, flanked on one side by a menacing looking cyborg while the on his other side stood a humanoid with navy blue hair. Behind the three stood two identical squat purple beings that Frieza had never seen before, both of them were grinning as their group touched down.

Shuyo touched down beside Frieza lowering his head so his face was next to the Frost Demon's "the strongest power level is coming from inside the tree itself." Frieza nodded slowly he had also felt that strength and it was clearly the source of his unease, not because of its strength but because of its familiarity.

The orange skinned Beppan stepped forward, his arms wide in a mock greeting, to address the new arrivals. "Greetings, my name is Amond and this is the Crusher Corps" he spun around indicating his fellow mercenaries. "I would like to welcome you to what's left of Bogden" he chuckled sadistically along with the rest of his group who began spreading out to surround Frieza and his crew.

Taking another few steps forward the cyborg suddenly stopped, his gaze locked on Frieza. "Hey boss! You're going to want to see this!" he called out as the others looked at him in confusion. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction Frieza glanced backwards at Weiss to get her attention.

"Stick with Tyr and Raijin, keep them safe, focus on the dumplings and if you need help call out alright?" Weiss nodded her head in understanding. Frieza knew that there was no way she would sit this fight out, just like in the battle of Fuar she wanted to be there to help no matter what the odds. Frieza also knew that after what happened to Weiss during the fight with Seluba, Tyr and Raijin would stick by their leader like glue. So rather than trying to keep them from the action Frieza had focused on training the three to the best of his abilities, they were as ready as they would ever be for this fight.

A sharp elbow to the ribs drew the Frost Demon's attention to the Securan who was staring upwards in shock. "Frieza you're not gonna like this" she muttered as Frieza followed her gaze, when he found what she was looking at his eyes widened in shock at what he saw. Standing smugly on an upper branch in full Saiyan battle armour with arms crossed confidently was Goku! It had been over a year now since he last laid eyes on the Saiyan but he would never forget that face. As the realisation set in so did the inconsistencies. Goku should have been on Earth right now with his friends and family not planet hopping with some magical death tree. Upon closer inspection Frieza took in additional details that he missed initially, this Saiyan's skin was a slightly darker shade and he wore a red scouter which Goku would never need, plus he had a tail wrapped firmly around his waist. Goku definitely didn't have one when they had fought back on Namek or when he had fought his father and from what Frieza remembered of Saiyan anatomy they stopped growing their tails back after a certain age.

Recovering from his initial shock Frieza took a few steps forward glaring at the rogue Saiyan before him. The Saiyan's smug smile was already starting to irritate Frieza, he would enjoy wiping it from the monkey's face.

"What's the matter Frieza you look like you've seen a ghost" the rogue Saiyan called out before descending to stand alongside the rest of the Crusher Corps.

"My apologies you merely look extraordinarily like another Saiyan I've crossed paths with, tell me have you met one going by the name Goku?" Frieza asked nonchalantly trying to dispel the strange feeling of deja-vu he was having staring at this imposter.

"An odd name for a Saiyan but no I haven't although I will say that many of us Saiyans are cut from the same cloth, hence the resemblance" not-Goku responded smugly.

"Humph, there's a joke in there about inbred monkey breeding but that would be beneath me, far too easy" Frieza chuckled earning scowls from the Saiyan's crew, but not from the man himself who continued to smile menacingly.

"You know I'm very happy you decided to show up yourself, at first I thought it was just one of your hapless recon parties, but this will be far more enjoyable" the Saiyan chuckled as the rest of the Corp took a step forward. "I see you even brought your brother with you, how quaint" his smug smile grew larger as he said this. "The name's Turles and much like this worthless planet I will be your executioner for the day" he cracked his knuckles as the rest of his crew dropped into fighting positions surrounding Frieza and company.

There was a solid moment of silence, not a single sound could be heard as the fighters stared down their respective opponents. Then from overhead a branch snapped off with a deafening crack and all at once every warrior charged forward.

Cooler connected with a powerful snap kick sending Cacao hurtling into the eaves of the tree above them before following in pursuit unleashing a torrent of Death Beams as he did so. Daiz charged Shuyo pushing the stoic monk back with a flurry of punches before they both disappeared behind a massive above ground root. Weiss, Tyr and Raijin fired a barrage of Ki blasts, the onslaught of black, green and white Ki forcing both Raisin and Lakasei backwards as the children moved as one looking to flank the purple dwarfs.

Aayla locked hands with Amond, both fighters trying to overpower the other. With a devilish smile Aayla snaked her Lakee around the brutish Beppan's neck and taking a page from Frieza's book began choking the orange warrior before connecting with a powerful headbutt that sent the brute flying into the distance. Turning around Aayla looked at Frieza who was battling the Saiyan Turles close to the base of the Tree of Might. Aayla smirked as she saw him pushing the Saiyan back with an intense flurry of blows 'kick his ass hun' she called out to him through their mental bond before she took off in search of her own target.

Frieza smirked as he received the Securan's words of encouragement. He was already pushing Turles back with extreme ease the monkey was barely putting up a fight. As Frieza spun around his tail slammed into the Saiyan's jaw sending him hurtling into the air before he corrected himself landing on a branch.

"Not bad Frieza" Turles chuckled as he wiped away a trickle of blood that ran down his chin. "And here I thought today was going to be boring."

"Well you are correct in a way, I am awfully bored right now, you're not exactly challenging me" Frieza smirked as landed on an adjacent branch. Just over the Frost Demon's shoulder Turles could spot Cacao blasting Cooler out of the air with a powerful blast. "There's only ever been one person to truly push me to my limits, ironically enough he's the one you look like so much, unfortunately for you though you're no Super Saiyan" Frieza crossed his arms as Turles' smile broadened.

"Not a Super Saiyan huh?" Turles chuckled as he brought both arms to his side. "Let's fix that shall we?" Turles' chuckle changed into a pained growl as his energy skyrocketed. Frieza took a stunned step backwards as he felt the Saiyan's power rise dramatically.

"No it can't be" Frieza muttered as the Saiyan before him continued to roar.

His hair had begun to stand on end as his Ki around him surged, his black eyes flashed the same blueish-green that had haunted Frieza's nightmares. His muscles bulged and the scouter on the side of his face exploded in a shower of sparks. Then with a final gut wrenching shout, a flash of golden light enveloped the Saiyan, temporarily blinding Frieza with its intense glare. Frieza took a hesitant step backwards in shock, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Just like on Namek he was once again face to face with the glowing form of a Super Saiyan.

Cracking his neck from side to side Turles grinned maliciously at the stunned Frost Demon "now then Frieza, are you ready to get serious?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **And we are back people! Sorry about the week long delay. I got to say I am so excited for next chapter as it will balls to the wall action! Also I enjoyed writing this chapter quite a bit I feel like it was a good bit of set up for what comes next.**

 **A few things I want to touch on mainly Frieza sensing energy, I decided to take the same route Vegeta. In the story Vegeta simply sees Goku and the gang doing it and poof next thing you know he knows how to do it as well, which is not unheard of in Dragon Ball. I threw a bit of a twist in that Frieza didn't know he knew how and only focused on himself and those closest to him (Aayla), again showing off that Frieza can still be a little self-centred.**

 **I actually had to re-watch Tree of Might since it's been years since I first watched it and I got to say man are the Crusher Corps one dimensional and boring. One of the things I tried to do was inject them with some personality just to make them a little more interesting otherwise I might as well call them disposable minion 1-5.**

 **That being said despite their lack of personality Tree of Might was one of my go to ideas for enemies to visit. A simple change caused by the war between the PTO and GFM forced Turles and the Crusher Corps to take a detour that put them in a place with countless energy rich planets to boost their power. Just like that we have a believable reason for Frieza and the gang to fight them and simultaneously increased their power so they become a legitimate threat.**

 **Also Turles as a Super Saiyan, I felt like it's needed as otherwise the first Super Saiyan Frieza will have fight since Namek would end up being Broly and I want to give Frieza sometime against a regular Super Saiyan before we dump him against the Super Saiyan of Legend. Also the fact that Turles is identical in appearance to Goku is awesome, gonna start playing some mind games with Frieza muahahaha.**

 **Next chapter will be focused on the Frieza Force vs the Crusher Corps with Frieza vs Turles taking up all chapter 17. This is gonna be the first time we have the entire crew working together and I can't wait to sink my teeth into it.**

 **As always guys if you have questions or just want to talk go right ahead my door's always open so to speak. We're at over 12k in views… awesome just flipping awesome guys you rock, until next time enjoy the awesome summer weather!**


	16. Chapter 16 - Rage Of The Demons

"Get down dolt!" Weiss shouted as she unleashed her Gorgeous Beam directly at the back of Tyr's head who was busy grappling with Raisin. Tyr was quick on the draw ducking his head to the side just in time for the Frost Demoness' eye beam to pass by his right ear and connect with the stout Beenz' face. The force of the impact would have sent him flying if Tyr didn't already have his serrated tail coiled around his neck. Instead Tyr took the opportunity to whip his tail downward hurling the purple dwarf into a massive root.

Extending his hand downwards Tyr focused his Ki into the tips of each finger, each one ablaze with the black energy that comprised his unique Ki signature. "Dark Fire Barrage!" Tyr shouted unleashing a hailstorm of thin, black Ki blasts from each finger. The stream of projectiles kicked up a massive cloud of dirt with each impact causing Tyr to smirk at his handiwork. Turning his head to face Weiss he called out to the Frost Demoness "I got this, thanks for the assist but go help Rai!"

Weiss nodded briefly before taking off, Weiss was running double duty in this fight, Tyr called dibs on the one called Raisin while Raijin focused on his brother Lakasei. Weiss had spent most of the fight jumping between the two separate battles while simultaneously trying to keep the brothers apart from each other. It was absolutely exhausting but she wasn't about to let her friends down, not when they needed her the most.

Coming up on Raijin's position Weiss could see her Zamt friend was getting pushed back by the enraged Beenz. He still sported a mark on the side of his face when he tried to read their power levels with his scouter and it exploded on the spot. "You're going down runt" Lakasei shouted as he attempted to smash through Raijin's Ion Barrier.

"Who are you calling a runt shorty?" Raijin responded as he exploded his barrier outward stunning the attacking Beenz for the moment. The moment was all he needed though as he charged forward driving his bony elbow between Lakasei's dark eyes.

A stream of blood erupted from a cut opened up along the Beenz' eyebrow but he was quick to recover throwing a quick combination that took Raijin off guard. The first two punches landed flush to the young Zamt's chin before connecting with an elbow of his own sending Raijin spinning out of the air. "I hate babysitting, Gemini Shot!" Lakasei shouted as he hurled a red Ki blast down at the stunned form of Raijin. As the blast detonated Lakasei smirked believing the blast had finished the four eyed runt, but as the smoke cleared the Beenz' eyes widened as in its place stood a completely unharmed Weiss supporting Raijin with her shoulder.

"Go check on Tyr for me" Weiss whispered to Raijin who nodded his head in conformation.

"Be careful this one favours his right hook and he's pretty thick skinned he can take a lot of punishment" Raijin called out as he took off in the direction Weiss came.

"Hey get back here you little punk!" Lakasei called out charging another Gemini Shot. The Beenz had completely taken his eyes off Weiss who used the distraction to close ground quickly. Appearing on the Beenz' right side she connected with a sharp kick to the side of his face, throwing his projectile off course and into the Tree of Might with a deafening explosion.

"Nice shot tubby" Weiss chided as she followed up with a knee to the stout mercenary's chin throwing him further off balance. She had the momentary advantage and she needed to press it while she could, one of the first things Frieza had taught her was to capitalize on even the smallest of advantages. Surprise attacks, taunting, unorthodox strikes, whatever took he opponent off balance would only be an asset to her in combat.

"You little brat, you'll pay for that" Lakasei growled before powering up further. The sudden spike in power took Weiss completely off guard, had the dwarves been holding back the whole time? She didn't have time to dwell on it though as the Beenz charged forward unleashing a small barrage of Ki blasts that covered his approach. Once he was in range Lakasei threw a quick jab that Weiss deflected with her arm before following with a sharp kick to the young Demoness' stomach knocking the wind out of her. For someone with such stubby legs he sure packed a punch.

"That all you got pint size?" Weiss called out as the enraged Beenz attacked again. This time though Weiss was ready no longer taking the stout fighter for granted. They were trading blows at an incredible speed along the base of the tree. Lakasei had far more power in his strikes but Weiss was able to use her superior speed and reach advantage to keep the fight in her favour. Every time the short mercenary would miss a strike due to his shorter arms Weiss would make him pay for it with a sharp counter. Training alongside Shuyo for months had really helped develop her defense in combat and she was making the most of it now.

With a burst of speed Lakasei charged forward headfirst looking for a headbutt. Weiss saw the attack coming and quickly hopped over the speeding dwarf. As she passed over his head she lashed out with her tail smacking her foe in the back of the head sending him toppling to the ground in an angered heap.

"Smooth" Weiss purred as she stuck her landing perfectly. As she slowly circled the still crouched Beenz Weiss began to take note of his shaking shoulders and rapid breathing. 'Excellent, he's getting overemotional he's going to make more and more mistakes like that and give this fight to me' Weiss thought to herself. Suddenly Weiss felt her opponent's energy spike as he whirled around thrusting his hand outwards with a high pitched cry.

The Gemini Shot he unleashed this time was twice as large as the others and it was almost upon Weiss by the time she was able to react. Thrusting both hands outwards she shouted at the top of her lungs in panic "GLEAMING DEATH!" Weiss' most powerful Ki blast erupted from her outstretched palms with a deafening roar, in her panic she had put more energy than she ever had in the past and the result was an enormous blast that was double her own height.

Lakasei's Gemini Shot did it's best to hold off the incoming emerald beam, but after a few moments where their blasts collided and struggled for dominance, Weiss' Gleaming Death won out, completely enveloping the Beenz' attack and slamming him into the Tree of Might. The resulting blast blew a sizeable chunk out of the trunk and sent shockwaves rattling up the tree knocking loose several branches higher up. As the dust settled Weiss who was just getting back to her feet from the exertion of her attack spotted the now injured Beenz who was embedded in the tree. His body was littered with scorch marks and several cuts all along his body but Weiss could tell he still had plenty of energy to spare.

"Regulation Weiss, regulation, Frieza taught you that, there was no need for that much power" the Demoness berated herself as she panted for breath. Weiss took a second to prepare another blast to finish off her opponent, who was still wedged in the tree, when she heard a shout from behind her that drew her attention.

"Get back here you purple runt!" Tyr shouted angrily. He and Raijin were in hot pursuit just behind an injured Raisin who looked almost as bad as his brother. As the three combatants entered the area a blinding flash of red light erupted from behind Weiss. Lakasei had freed himself and quickly met with his brother back to back on an upper branch, both had exact same sour expression on their face. Clearly being knocked around by a bunch of kids wasn't their idea of a good time.

Taking up positions in a triangle formation surrounding the bothers Weiss, Raijin and Tyr set themselves into fighting positions ready for any surprise attack. Taking the momentary lull in the action to regain her strength Weiss called out to the purple twins "it's three on two and you guys are in worse shape, I suggest you give up while you can." Weiss had heard Frieza say something similar in the past she could only hope she delivered the line with the same confidence he always did.

Rather than respond both Raisin and Lakasei looked at each other before giving each other a simultaneous nod. Dropping out of their guarded positions both turned to face Weiss standing side by side with confident smirks that did not reflect the current predicament they were in. "We have a better idea" the twins said in unison as Raisin reached out his left arm towards his brother and Lakasei did the same with his right. The brothers clasped their hands together and suddenly a rush of red Ki surged from their cores into their arms. When the twin pulses of energy met a blinding flash of light erupted from the pair blinding the three kids.

As their sight returned to them they were no longer looking at the two brothers. In their place stood a massive behemoth, he was three times taller than both of the brothers with his gargantuan arms hanging by his side. While Raisin and Lakasei seemed rather rotund this new being was pure muscle, his light purple skin rippling as he flexed his arms menacingly.

"Guys, what just happened?" Tyr asked nervously as he took in the giant Beenz' imposing stature.

"Lakasei and Raisin merged together to form me" the massive Beenz rumbled, his voice seemed to be a mixture of both brothers' voices but a few octaves lower. He took a menacing step forward all the while cracking his neck from side to side. "The name's LakSin, they don't let me out too often" the brute chuckled as he looked down at his opponents "I guess they want me to stomp you kids out."

Suddenly the merged Beenz charged forward, eyes locked on the still stunned Raijin who barely had time to react before LakSin was on him. Raijin did his best to close guard as LakSin's tree trunk of an arm slammed into the young Zamt sending him hurtling into the distance.

"Rai!" Tyr called out as he charged LakSin from behind, side by side with Weiss. Just as the pair entered striking distance the massive Beenz spun around wildly with both arms extended. Weiss was able to change elevations evading the sweeping arm strike but Tyr was not as lucky catching the strike with his face. The impact stunned the young Dramon just long enough for LakSin to connect with a downward punch sending him straight into the ground.

Weiss watched as Tyr slammed into the ground and felt her energy surge as her features flushed in anger. "You'll pay for that!" Weiss yelled as she appeared just under LakSin's chin and connecting with a precision uppercut that snapped LakSin's head back. Seeing an opening Weiss sent her tail out coiling it around the purple giant's now exposed neck. Normally this move would have been a fight ender as it didn't take much force to collapse a windpipe but this was not the case this time around. LakSin's beefy neck made choking him almost impossible and what was worse she was now completely exposed right in front of the now angered Beenz.

"Nice try brat" LakSin growled as he slammed both fists into Weiss from either side stunning the Demoness. As Weiss fell to the ground below LakSin held both hands outward with a wicked grin on his face. "Twin Gemini Shot" he chuckled as a brilliant red beam erupted from both hands combining to form one large blast to obliterate the still stunned Demoness. However just before the blast could connect a shining white barrier formed just ahead of the blast halting it long enough for a someone to sweep in and take Weiss out of the line of fire before the shield gave way.

Tyr and Raijin used the cover of the explosion to make a quick getaway, this new guy was totally different than the brothers. Raijin was quick to point out a hollowed out root that looked promising enough. Seeing the root Tyr pushed himself to go faster to make sure Weiss was ok. Upon landing he began to take note of her appearance, her light pink skin was a little burnt in places and she had a myriad of bruises but nothing life threatening.

"Wakey wakey dolt" Tyr chuckled as he helped Weiss to her feet, Raijin touched down a moment later to join them.

"Thanks guys" Weiss said groggily as she regained her senses. Looking around she could guess at what had happened. She quickly got to her feet stretching out her all of her muscles to get some feeling back in them. "That big lump sure packs one hell of a wallop" Weiss groaned getting the kinks out her neck. "I'm guessing I owe you to for the rescue huh?" She smiled at the bashful look that suddenly crossed Tyr's face.

"Don't mention it" Raijin replied as he looked skyward, he was keeping tabs on LakSin's position so the others could catch their breath. It seemed pretty clear that he needed a scouter to sense energy so they should be safe for the time being.

"So what's the plan Weiss?" Tyr asked as Weiss began to pace the confines of the hollow. She looked skyward with the same determined expression she reserved for the utmost of important circumstances.

"We have to take him down, we can't let him get away and help his friends" Weiss stated, her mind was racing trying to put together a game plan. The brute couldn't sense energy and so far didn't know where they were, that gave them the element of surprise. On top of that they still had the numbers advantage three on one still gave them an exploitable edge. If it wasn't for the brute's unreal durability and power this would be a simple fight, hell it would have been over already.

"He's coming back around" Raijin called out using his long neck to peak around the corner.

"Ok, I'll draw his attention while you two get into position for Operation Hot Box" Weiss stated getting nods of approval from the boys.

"Question" Tyr said, he lifting his hand to get Weiss' attention. "If Hot Box doesn't work what do we move to?" He asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Hmm if it doesn't work we'll try the Frost Fire Gambit, then we'll give Hikari Kōri a try…" Weiss trailed off as she thought of what else they could try to beat the hulking Beenz. Finally she looked back up locking eyes with her two closest friends "if those don't work we go for Operation Fight Club."

"But Weiss that's too dangerous!" Raijin exclaimed.

"Hey no talking about Operation Fight Club, got it?" Weiss commanded as she squinted at the exacerbated Zamt. "Besides I don't plan on having to use it, that is an absolute last resort." Releasing her scowl she turned back to Tyr giving him a smirk "what do you think dolt?"

"I say, let's do this" Tyr grinned back as his black scales extended completely covering his limbs and a good portion of his face. He extended his hand into the center of the trio who looked at him both with bemused expressions.

"You can't be serious" Raijin stated as he eyed his friend's outstretched hand.

"You are so corny" Weiss giggled at the Dramon's indignant expression.

"Come on guys bring it in" Tyr pleaded with the others. Begrudgingly, both Weiss and Raijin brought their hands to the center to rest on top of Tyr's. Once their hands were over top of each other Tyr smile widened as they all raised their hands at once "who's got this?" Tyr asked his voice overflowing with excitement.

"We got this" Weiss and Raijin responded dully in unison.

"Humph, guess that's the best I'm gonna get from you spoil sports." Tyr huffed as Raijin returned to looking upwards keeping his eyes peeled for LakSin.

"Don't worry dolt, I know you're trying" Weiss smiled as she gave Tyr a quick peck on the cheek, forcing a bright red blush to peek out from his exposed skin, while his scales bristled at their brief contact.

"Uhhh guys! I think he sees us!" Raijin exclaimed from his spot. They all felt LakSin's Ki rushing to their position, there was no doubt he figured out where they were.

Standing up straight Weiss addressed her friends with a sternness she had mostly adopted from watching Cooler. "Alright boys, you know the drill let's take this clown down" she stated as she took to the air to confront the incoming Beenz.

"There you are you little brat" LakSin grunted keeping his eyes on Weiss while she made her approach. Thrusting both hands forward the massive Beenz shouted "Twin Gemini Shot" once again releasing his signature attack. This time though Weiss was ready and nimbly dodged the incoming blast before countering with a small Ki blast of her own. The emerald blast struck LakSin's right shoulder eliciting a pained wince from the impact, forcing him to lose sight of his target.

"On your left" Weiss said appearing on LakSin's right side to deliver a sharp kick to the back of the Beenz mercenary's head. As LakSin's head snapped forward from the surprise attack, Weiss dropped down delivering a flurry of punches down her opponent's spine. The enraged Beenz quickly spun around smacking away Weiss with his massive forearm and was about to fire off another Ki blast when Weiss shouted to her team "dolt do it now!"

Appearing just in front of LakSin, with a handful of fiery Ki, Tyr grinned at the surprised Beenz. "Gotcha ugly" he taunted as he hurled his Dark Fire Bomb. The sphere of black Ki slammed into LakSin's face just as Raijin appeared behind the enraged Beenz with both hands held out. Just as the sphere of fire began to expand Raijin focused his own Ki sealing off LakSin's head from the outside.

LakSin thrashed about wildly attempting to slam his massive hands into his own head to break the barrier as the black fire inside consumed what little oxygen that had been sealed inside. Tyr quickly pulled back to brace Raijin and assist in keeping the barrier up while Weiss moved on the offense unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks along the mercenary's body.

Just as it seemed LakSin's movements were beginning to slow he suddenly angled downward and took off at full speed. The sudden departure took the trio by surprise and Raijin had to redouble his efforts to keep the barrier going as their Beenz adversary made a beeline for the Tree of Might. Weiss was trying her best to catch up to the speeding mercenary but with the head start he had she couldn't catch up to him before he slammed headfirst into the tree shattering the Ion Barrier.

Shaking away the remnants of Tyr's Dark Fire Bomb LakSin looked up towards the three children who were causing him so much pain. They would pay for this outrage with their miserable lives.

"Sooooo, Frost Fire Gambit?" Tyr asked nervously as they felt LakSin's power surge.

"Yeah, let's go with that" Weiss responded uneasily. Turning to look at a still panting Raijin Weiss held her hand up to signal his retreat. "Pull back for now, take a breather, we're going to need you for later Rai" Weiss commanded. Raijin nodded as he began to pull back keeping a close eye on his friends as he did so.

"So think this one will wo-… CRAP!" Tyr exclaimed as LakSin raced upwards charging the pair with murderous intent.

"Do it now dolt!" Weiss exclaimed as she began to increase her own power. Just as she thought the three of them couldn't overpower the brute traditionally, so they would need to get creative.

"Right, be careful" Tyr nodded as he extended both hands towards the determined Demoness. After a brief moment of inactivity, Weiss suddenly burst into flame. The sudden combustion brought LakSin to a screeching halt. As the conflagration began to settle around the Demoness she opened her eyes too look down at her hands, it had worked! Tyr's Dark Fire was clinging to her now and her naturally tough exterior was able to resist its harmful presence.

"Oh you are going down ugly" Weiss smirked as she charged the shocked Beenz. Weiss was pushing herself to her max speed with both fists extended in front of her. Her Emerald Ki mixed with Tyr's Dark Fire transforming her into a fiery comet of death. She slammed into LakSin at top speed sending him lurching to the side as she forced her way past. She had hoped to go through the enraged Beenz but hopefully a few more attempts would soften up the purple behemoth.

Making a wide arc Weiss turned around to approach from a different angle, without a scouter the brute had no way of finding her after she hit him. A competent fighter would have been able to keep track of her even after taking such a solid hit, luckily this dumb brute was anything but competent. Weiss continued the pattern closing in at a ridiculous speed, slamming fist first into the bulky Beenz before continuing onwards to make another pass.

As she continued her frenzied assault Weiss could couldn't help but smirk. LakSin was too bulky to land a solid hit on her when she was moving this fast. Weiss had taken one his strengths and turned it to an advantage, Aayla would definitely approve.

Just as she was about to slam into him again he let out a guttural roar and with it came an explosion of Ki that flared out in all directions. Weiss had no chance to change direction and could only brace herself as the energy wave blasted her out of her attack run. She had been sent spinning off course and she struggled to regain control, fighting her own momentum was not easy especially after being knocked aside by the blast. After a few dizzying moments Weiss finally brought herself to a halt, just in time to see the approaching Beenz just a foot away from her.

"There you are!" LakSIn roared as he clamped his hand around Weiss' neck. The bruised and battered Beenz was practically frothing at the mouth as he attempted to choke the Frost Demoness trapped in his grasp. Try as she might she couldn't shake the Beenz' steely grip and her vision quickly began to fade .

"Let her go!" Raijin shouted unleashing the strongest Ki blast his tired body could muster. The narrow white beam tore through the air straight towards LakSin who raised his left hand and unleashed his own blast. The two beams collided and for a moment looked to be in a stalemate. The problem was Raijin was far too exhausted at this point to keep up the exertion and it wasn't long until his own beam fizzled and died. LakSin's own blast continued onwards straight towards Raijin who only just raised his guard in time to brace himself as the blast enveloped him. The attack carried him away, violently slamming him into the Tree of Might with a deafening boom.

"Dumb kid" Laksin chuckled as he turned his attention back to Weiss who was just barely holding on to her consciousness. "Nighty night girly-ARRGGHHH!" Laksin suddenly shouted as Tyr's razor sharp tail protruded through his muscled shoulder. Tyr was able to get behind LakSin and used his tail to pierce straight through the Beenz' muscular shoulder. Tyr grinned as he saw Laksin's grip on Weiss loosen enough that he dropped the near unconscious Demoness his plan had actually worked!

"Did you forget about me?" Tyr chided as he placed both hands on either side of LakSin's head and used what little energy he had left to force a steady stream of Ki into the Beenz' cranium.

Wasting no time LakSin spun around whipping Tyr around to face him his tail coming loose and exiting out it's of the Beenz' shoulder the way it came. The sudden jerked movement took the young Dramon completely off guard and so he wasn't ready for point blank Ki blast that blasted him out of the air with a ferocious explosion.

Back on the ground Weiss was just recovering from her hard landing when she heard the blast above her. Looking up she watched as Tyr disappeared in a blinding flash of light before an immense shockwave shook everything in a mile from its epicenter.

"Tyr!" She cried out as the young Dramon plummeted out of the sky. Racing upwards she managed to catch him just before he slammed into the ground. He was in terrible shape many of his scales were cracked or missing he had scorch marks running all along his body, most of his clothes had been singed away and there was a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. "Come on dolt wake up" Weiss pleaded as she shook her injured friend.

"I'm up, I'm up" Tyr groaned shifting in her arms. "I think I'm done for today Weiss… Sorry" Tyr mumbled before passing back into unconsciousness in the Frost Demoness' shaking arms.

"Ah how cute" LakSin chuckled as he descended on their position.

Weiss looked up at the menacing Beenz with fire in her eyes. LakSin was putting on a good show acting as if he still had plenty of power left over but Weiss could tell he was almost running on empty. The only problem was so was she, but she had to finish him now, if she didn't then Raijin and Tyr were goners. Her thoughts began to swim as she set Tyr gently down, Laksin had done this to him, he hurt both Tyr and Raijin, the Beenz and his crew had laid this entire beautiful planet to waste in a bid for power.

Weiss felt her anger swell and along with it so did her power, she had never been this angry in her life and looking at the injured forms of her friends and this once beautiful planet only served to enhance her rage. Weiss' vision began to blur becoming a solid sea of crimson and she could feel her muscles swelling like they never had before. LakSin took a tentative step back as he saw the Demoness powering up, she had somehow grown a whole inch, her muscles were bulging outwards and her eyes had become a solid shade of crimson that was terrifying to the tough as nails mercenary.

As her laboured breathing subsided Weiss locked her enraged eyes with the cautious Beenz'. "Die!" Weiss roared as she charged forward, her voice had become a deep growl and she was now shouting at the top of her lungs. LakSin had no time to react before Weiss' knee slammed into his chin, the sudden impact shattering his jaw and lifting him into the air. Weiss continued her attack unleashing a barrage of punches all across LakSin's body, each one shattering the bones underneath or opening a deep gash in the Beenz' tough skin.

LakSin was doing his best to counter the enraged Demoness, but her relentless assault was proving too much. Panicking LakSin fired a Ki blast at Weiss before making a full retreat. The blast did little to stall the rabid Demoness as she slammed straight through it with little to no effort. Quickly outracing the purple brute Weiss slammed her tail into his face ceasing all his momentum instantly before stomping on the small of his back. The impact from the kick alone shattered LakSin's spine sending him plummeting back down to the ground. The moment the mercenary hit the ground a blinding flash of light erupted and in his place were both Raisin and Lakasei, the pair had finally separated after taking so much punishment.

The battle was over, she had won, but simply having two unconscious idiots wasn't enough for the furious Frost Demoness. Raising her index finger into the air she channeled her Ki into a single orange sphere. Cooler had taught her the Supernova technique months ago and she was going to put it to good use ending these creeps. Thrusting her finger downward the Supernova took off for the pair of disabled Beenz. The tiny orb quickly expanded into and enormous sphere that consumed anything in its path. Weiss could just make out one of the brothers, probably Raisin trying to deflect the ball with what meager energy he had left. The attempt was for naught however as the moment the Supernova was upon them Weiss forced it to detonate obliterating everything for a mile in every direction.

As the debris cleared Weiss smirked as she scanned the area, just as she predicted there was nothing left of the twins. With her opponents gone Weiss could feel her energy begin to dip, her muscles were screaming out in protest as they returned to their normal shape and her eyes regained their normal composition. Leaning backwards Weiss could feel herself begin to fall, she no longer had enough strength to keep herself aloft. But just before she would have hit the ground she fell into someone's arms, whoever it was held her gently in their arms. The last thing she heard before passing out was an all too familiar voice.

"I'm proud of you kiddo."

* * *

"Where is that hunk of junk" Cooler grumbled as he tossed aside a boulder that had been laying on him. The blasted cyborg was tougher than he looked and had withstood the Frost Prince's Death Laser head on, something few could attest to. The sound of digitized laughter brought Cooler's attention upward to where Cacao was standing. After breaking away from the base of the tree both Cooler and Cacao had been slugging it out in a dried up lakebed, which was where Cooler currently found himself at the bottom of.

"My database seems to be incorrect, it says here that you're supposed to be one of the strongest beings in the universe, right behind your brother of course" Cacao chuckled leisurely walking down the steep slope of the lakebed. "But from what I've seen so far that must be a typo" Cacao shrugged.

That did it, Cooler was going to turn the cyborg bounty hunter into scrap metal for that. Cooler and Frieza may have been making immense strides to repair their relationship, but the sibling rivalry festered by their father still raged in between them. Cooler would make the tin can pay for that comment with what was left of his ever shortening life.

Cooler charged forward his face a mask of hatred as he met Cacao in the middle of the lakebed, both warriors throwing punch after punch at each other looking to smash the other into oblivion. After ducking a straight right from the menacing cyborg Cooler countered with a left hook while simultaneously coiling his tail around Cacao's exposed ankle. The cyborg's armour withstood the punch but that was never Cooler's main target anyway, with a quick flick of his tail Cooler slammed the bounty hunter straight into the ground with a thunderous crash sending chunks of rock into the air from the impact.

As Cooler flipped his tail to his other side the panels along Cacao's chest opened up and vented an incredible amount of energy, propelling the cyborg skyward and taking the Frost Demon along with him by his tail. Coming to a stop Cacao cocked back his fist and slammed it dead on into the oncoming Frost Demon sending him hurtling back down. "I call this my Cosmic Attack" Cacao laughed as he took off after the descending Frost Demon. Amplifying his speed with the jet boosters along his arms and legs he slammed headfirst into Coolers midsection knocking with wind out of the Frost Prince as they slammed into the ground. Looking down at the half buried Frost Demon Cacao slammed down his foot on his exposed chest, gaining a pained shout from the prince. "In between the fruit from the Tree of Might and my cybernetic upgrades I'm practically invincible!" he exclaimed as he continued to plant his foot again and again into Cooler.

Cooler's tail suddenly lashed out coiling around the Ikondan cyborg's neck from behind and pulling him off of the Frost Demon. Cooler quickly got back to his feet to stare down his opponent who was trying to break free of the vicelike grip his tail had on him. Apart from some light bruising just above his sternum Cooler was no worse for wear physically, however the bounty hunter's taunting was bringing Cooler's blood to a boil.

"Let me explain this to you simply" Cooler stated as he took a step towards the still struggling cyborg. "I am" Cooler slammed his fist into the Cacao's abdomen causing the cyborg to lose his grip on the Frost Prince's tail which took the opportunity to tighten further. "The most" another punch punctuated this statement this time though the strike was to the side of Cacao's head cracking the metal covering his head. "Skilled fighter" Cooler brought the cyborgs face straight down into his waiting knee opening a cut just above his left eye. "In the universe!" Cooler shouted as he threw the stunned cyborg into the air before unleashing a Death Flash. The bright orange beam completely obscured the cyborg from sight which brought a smirk to the Frost Demon's face "and don't you forget it."

"Not bad" the digitized voice of Cacao rang out as he appeared just behind Cooler once again going for his Cosmic Attack. As the two fought parallel to each other Cooler took in the cyborg's appearance, apart from some superficial damage and that small cut above his eye Cooler had done almost no damage to him. It was a bittersweet thought, it wasn't every day that he got to fight such a powerful opponent but it was abundantly clear Cooler would need to take things to the next level if he wanted to win this fight.

Flashes of him almost destroying Fuar with his ill planned Supernova and the all-encompassing rage that threatened to consume him though forced him to hold back. He needed full use of his faculties and if he was blinded by his rage then what good would he truly be in the fight. No his fifth form was too dangerous he would just have to make do with what he had.

While Cooler and Cacao traded blows at the base of the lakebed, Shuyo and Daiz were going at it miles above them. Shuyo had not expected the Kobochan prince to be such a challenge, from the moment their fight began Daiz pushed the stoic monk with everything he had. Shuyo was doing his best to redirect the incoming onslaught of punches and kicks that were being thrown but the sheer volume of the incoming strikes as well as the prince's tenacity made it a very difficult task.

Daiz broke away to make some distance before unleashing his signature Meteor Ball towards Shuyo. The sphere of red Ki streaked through the sky leaving a ghostly trail behind it before slamming into Shuyo's outstretched hands. With a determined grunt Shuyo managed to divert the ball downwards, but just as the ball left his grasp Daiz was back on him throwing quick combinations that Shuyo managed to block the majority of.

"Can't play defense forever baldy" Daiz taunted as he threw a quick jab that Shuyo managed to block before transitioning to an axe kick that caught him in the temple throwing off his equilibrium. Wasting no time to capitalize on the opening Daiz thrust his palm outwards launching another Meteor Ball that slammed into Shuyo carrying him down into the lakebed. The last thing Shuyo saw before the ball detonated was a flash of purple and white.

The explosion itself rocked the lakebed throwing up large chunks of weathered stone and dirt. Daiz couldn't help but smirk at his handiwork "see Cacao, that's how it's done." The Ikondan cyborg had just drifted upwards to meet up with his teammate, his crossed arms were a dead giveaway revealing just how unhappy he was. "What" Daiz asked the normally impassive bounty hunter.

"That kill was mine Daiz!" Cacao grumbled, he had been enjoying himself until Daiz's Meteor Ball got in the way.

"Oh stop your bellyaching they're not dead, not yet anyway" Daiz chuckled as he looked downwards. "So want to take them both out together, I'll even let you finish off Cooler" Daiz smirked at his cybernetic partner.

"Fine as long as you promise the Frost Demon's mine, I can get a pretty reward for his hide" Cacao chuckled as both mercenary's descended back into the lakebed below.

"You idiot" Cooler groaned pushing Shuyo off of him impatiently. The monk had just appeared out of nowhere and exploded right in his face. "I had that bastard right where I wanted him and you had to get in the way" he said looking upwards towards the slowly descending mercenaries.

"Right" Shuyo muttered getting back to his own feet. "Looks like they want a tag team match now" Shuyo chuckled, tearing off his ruined robes as he did so.

"Tag team? With you?" Cooler scoffed setting himself into a fighting stance. "Pretty boy up there must have knocked you around pretty hard" Cooler chuckled grimly.

Without another word all four combatants engaged at once. Cooler once again went on the offense pushing Daiz back with the ferocity of his attack. Cooler's relentless assault was countering the Koboachan prince's normally aggressive style. Meanwhile Cacao was doing his best to jump into the fray and aid the Daiz but every attempt was thwarted by Shuyo who able to counter the more power centric fighting style of the cyborg. With Cooler running offense and Shuyo defense they actually made a cohesive team, picking up on the other's openings.

The only downside to this was that both sides were at a complete stalemate neither one able to get the edge on the other. Daiz and Cooler were going shot for shot and Cacao was constantly being blocked by Shuyo's impenetrable defense. It seemed like it would come down to a matter of who had more stamina and that was a question Shuyo did not want to find out about the hard way.

Reaching out with his mind Shuyo found Cooler's consciousness but his mental barriers quickly locked down blocking him out. "Oh come on Cooler it's me!" Shuyo shouted showing frustration for the first time during the altercation.

"Exactly why I don't want you in there" Cooler responded as he connected with a quick combination and followed with a smack from his tail opening a gap between the two.

Realising he was going nowhere fast with the Frost Demon Daiz took the momentary distraction as an opening and charged Shuyo from behind. Shuyo barely had enough time to react before Daiz slammed into the monks back eliciting a pained grunt from the stone faced warrior. Cacao then joined in on the attack, both mercenaries unleashing a flurry of strikes. As Cooler closed in to intercept, both fighters spun around unleashing a combined Ki blast that Cooler couldn't dodge in time. Raising his guard Cooler managed to withstand the blast but the damage had been done and Shuyo was now plummeting back to the planet below.

Once again Cooler felt the ping of Shuyo's consciousness trying to gain access to his own. It wasn't a forceful intrusion, like he had expected but more of a request, one that Cooler begrudgingly accepted. 'This better be good' Cooler barked mentally as both Cacao and Daiz focused on him.

'That hurt a lot more than it looked, I think he shifted some vertebra when he got that sneak attack in' Shuyo responded. Even for a mental projection of the monk's voice Cooler could tell he was in far more pain than he was letting on. Daiz liked to fight dirty it seemed as he flew around to Cooler's back while he grappled with Cacao. Just before the Kobochan prince could land a shot though Cooler's tail lashed out smacking Daiz away.

'Ok I get it you're no good to me, tell me something I don't know' Cooler spat back as he headbutted Cacao with minimal effect. 'So why don't you get to the point of this little mental powwow already.' Fighting two enemies while simultaneously trying to hold a mental conversation was stretching Cooler to his limits he needed to make something happen and fast.

'Very well then, why aren't you in your fifth form? If you transform now they wouldn't stand a chance' Shuyo inquired as he raced back up to battle.

'Because… because, damn it I don't have time for this right now!' Cooler roared as he blocked a shot from Daiz only to be kicked in the ribs by Cacao who went under his guard. Cacao would have connected with another kick if Shuyo hadn't arrived in time to grab the cyborg from behind with a headlock.

'Look I can feel you're worried about using that form but look around you this planet's as dead as dead gets, there's nothing left alive to hurt' Shuyo responded while he was holding back the struggling cyborg. Suddenly the sound of a Ki blast being fired rang out across the landscape and Shuyo's eyes widened in shock as he let go of the now laughing cyborg.

"Shuyo what the hell!?" Cooler roared out loud watching Shuyo plummet once again,the monk couldn't stay airborn for five damn minutes! That was when Cooler spotted the gaping hole in the monks green chest. Feeling a surprising surge of anger Cooler unleashed his Darkness Eye Beams directly at Daiz who caught the beams with his right eye. The Kobochan prince shrieked in pain as a gush of blood erupted from the now ruined eye socket. Spinning around Cooler backhanded Cacao just before the cyborg could make an attack sending the surprised cyborg spinning out of the air. Racing downwards Cooler managed to catch the falling monk before he could make contact with the ground. Carrying him bridle style Cooler looked down at the open wound wrinkling his nose at the sight. "How the hell did this happen?" Cooler grunted as he laid Shuyo on the ground.

"Bastard's got a laser cannon built into his back" Shuyo coughed out, holding a hand over his chest in pain. "Guess I didn't see it coming, some telepath I turned out to be" Shuyo chuckled grimly.

"Cut that out moron if anyone's going to kill you it's probably gonna be me" Cooler replied as he wrapped the wound in what was left of Shuyo's robes. Raising the comm link on his wrist to his mouth Shuyo began barking orders to Nadan on the other end. "Get one of your blasted robots out here and pick Shuyo up he needs medical attention now!" After waiting for his response Cooler nodded before turning his attention back to Shuyo "you'll have help in a few minutes think you can hold on that long?"

"I'll make it, but you're about to have company" Shuyo responded looking over the Frost Demon's shoulder. Both Cacao and the half blinded Daiz were making their way towards their position both of them charging Ki blasts as they did so.

"Remind me when this is over to get you to teach me how to sense energy" Cooler grumbled as he got up from his crouching position.

"Don't sound so glum about it" Shuyo chuckled at the Frost Demon's sour expression. "Cooler…" Shuyo called out as the Frost Demon took to the air. Cooler looked back just enough to see the prone monk with his left eye. "You need to use your fifth form, just remember it is a part of you, you control it not the other way around."

He's right, Cooler thought to himself this form was a part of him, it had served his ancestors before him and it would now serve him once again. Tapping into the raging inferno of energy within him, Cooler roared at the top of his lungs as his body underwent the transformation. It only took a fraction of the time it originally did to undergo the transformation and it caused far less discomfort this time around. With a blinding flash of light Cooler stood in his fifth form once again smirking at the oncoming mercenaries. "Clueless fools don't know what they're getting into" Cooler said as his bone mask slid over his mouth.

"Cacao what was that light?" Daiz barked, clutching his ruined right eye.

"Undetermined" was the only response the cyborg could give.

As the light faded both mercenaries were greeted with the chiseled form of Cooler, his raging purple aura swirling around him menacingly. "What is that?" Daiz stammered at the sight of the enhanced Frost Demon.

Cooler was suddenly in Daiz' face in an instant, his solid red eyes burning into the startled Kobochan prince. "I am your death" Cooler growled before connecting with a vicious uppercut sending Daiz rocketing into the air. Cacao, just realising where Cooler had reappeared, charged forward unleashing a volley of Ki blasts that bounced harmlessly off his armoured exterior. As he got within range Cooler lashed out with his tail smashing the Ikondan cyborg downwards.

It was incredible the difference his fifth form had made, he was having difficulty with one of these clowns before but now he was knocking both of them around like ragdolls. Cooler could feel the rage and anger threatening to cloud his judgement but just as Shuyo said this rage was a part of him, he controlled it not the other way around.

Racing downwards Cooler passed Cacao reaching the ground about a second before the cyborg. Holding out his enlarged hand Cooler caught the Ikondan bounty hunter by his face before slamming him headfirst into the ground with a thunderous slam. "Still a little life in you I see" Cooler remarked at the twitching cyborg "let's fix that." With Cacao still in his grasp Cooler took back to the air at a blinding speed holding out his other hand he caught Daiz who had just begun making his own descent. Leveling out Cooler laughed as he looked over his fresh catch. "Now what to do with you two?" After a brief moment of contemplation a smile appeared on the Frost Demon's face though it was obscured by the bone mask.

"PULL" Cooler shouted chucking both mercenaries into the air in opposite directions. Letting the pair get some distance Cooler suddenly held out both hands. A Death Flash erupted from both hands, each beam connecting with pinpoint accuracy obliterating the pair of mercenaries with a satisfying explosion.

Cooler couldn't help but think the end to the fight was a little anti-climactic, but then again his overwhelming power left for few other outcomes. Looking out into the distance Cooler's heart jumped into his throat as he saw an enormous Supernova heading straight for the ground. A Supernova that large could destroy the entire planet! But luckily just as the ball made contact with the ground it exploded with a thunderous crash. Feeling more at ease Cooler looked back to the Tree of Might, he knew he'd have to talk to Weiss about the dangers of the Supernova after this was all over.

Letting himself revert back to his normal unsealed form, Cooler looked out to the horizon to see a clash of purple and golden Ki. Narrowing his eyes Cooler recognized the golden Ki, he had seen the Super Saiyan's when his father attacked Earth, now it seemed as if there was a third. "For a supposed legendary, fabled warrior, there sure are a lot of these super monkeys" Cooler chuckled as he turned back to go check on Shuyo.

"I hope you're up for this brother."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone so we're back to a pure combat chapter and it was actually kinda daunting. The hardest parts were actually trying to write the Crusher Corps into legit threats. There's been a slight change of plan for next chapter. Now chapter 17 will be primarily Aayla vs Amond with bits and pieces of what Nadan and Tukkan have been up to. Also as a side note just saw Independence Day 2 and all I can say is I haven't been that disappointed in a long time but oh well on to the analysis.**

 **For the fights my main focus was to show that after gorging themselves on the fruit from the Tree of Might, the entire Crusher Corps got a significant power boost.**

 **As I was looking over their information I found that apparently Lakasei and Raisin can merge to form a new being. Couldn't find a single time they actually did it but apparently they have that ability so LakSin was born (just a combination of their names).**

 **Also just want to say Weiss has not hit the fifth form yet, if you want to look at it she kinda went 4.5 in this fight.**

 **Another thing I've been trying out is getting both Shuyo and Cooler to be better friends… well not quite friends yet, more like not enemies. There will be more instances of them getting along as we continue.**

 **Well that's it for this chapter if you want to talk you know what to do hope your enjoying summer I know I've been.**

 **Until next time everyone.**


	17. Chapter 17 - MasterChef Bogden

"So Nad how's the pay-per-view?" Tukkan asked as he entered the bridge. The bird Weiss had saved was now resting peacefully on his shoulder while he made his way over to Nadan who was busy monitoring the various fights raging just a few short miles away.

"It's not a pay-per… ugh whatever" Nadan sighed as he poured over the various screens in front of him.

"Woah what's got you so uptight?" Tukkan asked taking a seat beside his stressed out friend.

"Lord Frieza told me to monitor them once the fighting began, but they split up almost immediately!" Nadan exclaimed ruffling his own hair in agitation. "I've been trying to follow four separate fights while trying to keep track of everyone involved in them" Nadan leaned forward resting on the surface of the command console. "I sent out six additional drones to try and keep track of the fights and I've already lost two of them" he groaned as he straightened himself.

"But you can whip those things up in your sleep Nad, what's the big deal?" Tukkan asked placing his feet up on the console as he did so.

Nadan spun around in his seat to face the carefree Konatsian chef with a look of irritation. "I don't even know why I bother trying to tell you anything" Nadan grumbled. Looking at the monitors Nadan went back to analysing the fights going on, the kids were doing fine, they had the numbers advantage and Weiss was proving to be an excellent leader. Cooler and Shuyo were having some difficulty with their opponents, both of them looked like they were getting steadily pushed back. Aayla and her opponent were attacking each other with reckless abandon neither one holding anything back. Then there was Lord Frieza, clearly just the idea of fighting a Super Saiyan was taking a toll on him mentally, he may need assistance to take this Turles down.

A series of sharp chirps brought Nadan out of his thoughts, looking down he could see the small yellow bird had left Tukkan's shoulder. The bird was now standing in front of the screen monitoring Weiss, the small creature was lightly pecking at it trying to get to the Frost Demoness on the other side. The Malakan scientist might have thought the display was cute but Nadan had far more pressing issues at hand.

"That's just a screen Yang, come on" Tukkan cooed, picking up the bird to gently place back on his shoulder.

"Yang?" Nadan asked looking at the bird whose gaze was still fixed on Weiss' screen.

"Oh yeah, Weiss named her before she gave her to me, it's not bad" Tukkan grinned, gently patting the birds head. Yang looked back to the Konatsian chef, then turned her gaze over to Nadan and then went back to staring at the screen intently.

Several more minutes passed in silence with Nadan monitoring the ongoing fights while simultaneously trying to get readings on both the surrounding area as well as the imposing tree that stretched up into the atmosphere. Unfortunately something about the tree was stopping his long range scans from getting any solid readings, whether that was because of its density or some other property was impossible to tell. Looking back over to Tukkan, who was busy tossing seeds at Yang who happily caught them midair, Nadan thought he knew how to remedy that problem.

"Tukkan I need your assistance" Nadan stated, getting up from his post he quickly walked across the room. Once he reached the wall he began pulling out compartments in search of the equipment he needed.

Stopping his game with the bright yellow bird Tukkan hopped up and followed the Malakan scientist over to the adjacent wall. "Sure thing pal, what do you need?" Tukkan asked cheerily as he peered over Nadan's shoulder.

"None of my scans are picking up any useable data from that tree, and the drones I sent in have all been destroyed by the fighting going on" Nadan said as he hefted up a tool kit he had stored in one of the side compartments. "I need you to go out and get some samples of the tree and the fruit, if there's any left" Nadan tipped the heavy case into the Konatsian chef's arms, who easily twirled the case around ignoring the heavy equipment inside.

"So you want to send me into a warzone… To go pick fruit?" Tukkan asked looking at Nadan with a bemused expression. "Well I guess it's not the most dangerous thing you've asked me to do" Tukkan shrugged as he made his way for the door.

"Wait!" Nadan called out running after the lanky chef. Upon reaching him Nadan held out a communicator to him "use it to keep in touch I want to make sure you're safe out there."

"Awe Nad you do care" Tukkan cooed as he strapped the communicator to his wrist. "Well if we're giving out gifts then do I got a good one for you" Tukkan chuckled at the suspicious look on Nadan's face.

"What is it? The last time you gave me a 'gift' I woke up in my own infirmary with food poisoning, a three thousand credit loan and a tattoo of your face on my inner thigh" Nadan grumbled as Tukkan burst out laughing.

"No it's nothing bad this time, it's just if I'm out someone needs to watch Yang." As if on cue the bright yellow bird gently landed on Nadan's head digging its talons into the Malakan's hair for balance.

"Oh fantastic" Nadan replied drily as Yang bent down to look him in the eye. Nadan was suddenly reminded why he disliked most birds as she pulled his hair with each step she took.

"Awesome, I'll be back in no time Nad you can count on me!" Tukkan called out as he left the bridge letting the door close behind him.

Still standing in front of the door, Nadan felt a small pain on the side of his head. Looking at his own reflection in the polished metal of the door he could see the source of the annoyance. "I hate birds" Nadan grumbled as Yang gently pecked at the side of his head. Dejectedly Nadan turned around back to his workstation as Yang chirped happily atop his head. As Nadan slumped into his chair Yang chirped once more as she attempted to transform Nadan's mohawk into her own cyan coloured nest.

* * *

"Man Frieza and that Saiyan are really going at it" Tukkan whistled as he glanced upwards. The pair of fighters were attacking each other relentlessly sending out surges of energy in all directions with each thunderous strike. Tukkan had been doing his best to stay low so not to attract any unwanted attention but as he closed in on the tree that became increasingly difficult.

Suddenly a booming explosion rocked the ground around the tree throwing the silver haired chef off balance. Glancing upwards Tukkan spotted Frieza plummeting at high speed towards his position, the cloud of smoke above him indicated where the blast had originated from. Just before he slammed into the dirt Frieza spun around landing feet first, forming a deep crater with his landing.

"Nice shot Go… MONKEY!" Frieza shouted up to the smirking Saiyan above. With an angered cry Frieza rocketed upwards once more leaving Tukkan behind to look back up to his boss' retreating figure.

"Well, that can't be good" Tukkan muttered before turning back towards the base of the tree. Even from his position he could spot what appeared to be a hollowed out section of the trunk. If he could get inside it would act as good cover and might even let him get some proper readings with Nadan's equipment.

"DIE!"

Tukkan came to a sudden halt hearing the roar of the enraged Frost Demon off in the distance. Turning around Tukkan had just enough time to spot the incoming Death Beam Barrage before they started falling around him. Putting on a burst of speed Tukkan dove into the hollow of the tree just as a stray Death Beam passed over his right ear singeing some of the air just above it.

"What the hell Frieza!?" Tukkan said as he peaked out of trunk. Looking up he could see Frieza was still at it unleashing his Death Beam Barrage all across the landscape. "What the hell are you doing boss?" Tukkan wondered aloud, then he saw the flash of golden light streak by followed closely by a wall of Death Beams. Frieza was doing his damnedest to connect with the speeding Super Saiyan who was just managing to stay ahead of the wall of death.

"Ok never mind boss I'll leave you to it" Tukkan muttered cautiously, taking a step away from the opening.

Turning around Tukkan was taken aback by what he saw, he had been expecting just a small alcove in the trunk with enough room for a little cover from the battle outside. Instead what he was greeted with was a massive cavern that stretched off into the darkness. Taking in his new surroundings, Tukkan's eyes fell upon a massive attack ball. It was about as big as The Nemesis and took up a good chunk of the visible space inside the hollow.

"Hey Nad" Tukkan spoke into his communicator, Nadan would want to know about this little discovery.

A series of shrill chirping greeted Tukkan, as Yang happily tweeted into the receiver on the other end. "Get away from that!" Nadan cried out on the other end. A series of rustling and chirping followed the outburst before a panting Nadan answered "this better be good."

Ignoring the irritation in his friends voice Tukkan pressed on with his report "I'm inside the tree and I think I found their ship Nad, it just looks like an attack ball, but way bigger."

"Interesting, you say you're inside the tree?" Nadan questioned from the other end.

"I found this hollowed out section in the trunk it's huge, seems they stored the ship in here" Tukkan replied as he began making his way towards the ship. Every few steps he would feel the entire tree shake as the battle between the Super Saiyan and Frost Demon raged on outside.

"Ok, Tukkan do you still have the equipment I gave you?" Nadan asked over the sounds of fluttering wings in the background.

"Of course Nad, you think I'd just carelessly break your stuff… Don't answer that" Tukkan said as he unlocked the case.

"Right, ok first I need you to take out the biometric pulse reader" Nadan stated calmly.

"The what?" Tukkan asked in confusion.

With a surprising level of calm patience Nadan responded calmly "the thing that looks like a tripod with a rectangle on the top."

Spotting the device in question Tukkan quickly undid the straps holding it in place and removed it from the case just as another explosion rocked the tree. "Hey Nad how's Frieza doing out there? I can't really tell from in here, this tree's throwing off my ability to sense Ki."

"Let's just say it would be best to pick up the pace, those two are liable to blow up the planet if they keep going like this." Tukkan could just make out the tinge of nervousness in the Malakan's voice, it rarely surfaced but when it did you knew the situation was dire.

"I'll make it fast then, what do I do with the bio- whatever?" Tukkan said as he unfolded the legs on the device.

"First drill a hole into the tree, I was going to ask you to do it to a root but since you're inside it, we should get even better readings now. Once you have a hole about an inch deep, position the center of the device over it and press the green square on the side." Nadan ran through his explanation as fast he could, Tukkan could just pick up the sound of him typing commands furiously on the other end.

Focusing his Ki into a fine point at the tip of his finger Tukkan began to drill down, boring a hole into the tree and was met with surprising resistance. After about a minute he finally made the hole an inch deep as requested and gingerly placed the device over the hole. A quick press of the button activated the device which extended a thin probe down into the hole.

"Excellent I'm getting the readings now" Nadan called back excitedly. "Ok next do you see the stack of circles in the top right corner of the case?" Nadan inquired from his post.

"Yeah what do they do?" Tukkan asked eyeing the disks closely.

"Don't worry about it just attach them to all over the place, they'll stick to just about any surface, just try to space them out" the loud clicking of Nadan hitting the keys was getting a little distracting. Even though they were just coming from the communicator they were still loud enough to echo off the walls of the hollow. At the same time that was a good indicator for how excited the Malakan was, the harder he hammered on his keyboard the more excited, or angry, he was.

"Sure thing Nad, anything else?" Tukkan asked taking off to go and place the palm sized disks around the hollow.

"Not at the moment, keep your eyes peeled for any of that fruit, once you're done go check out their ship if you can" Nadan replied back before closing the connection.

Flying around the hollow, Tukkan worked as fast as he could placing the disks as he went. The shaking outside was getting worse and chunks of the roof began to collapse as the impacts became more vicious. "Better pick up the pace Tuk" Tukkan muttered to himself slapping another disk on the ceiling only for the portion it was attached to break off and fall to the ground below. "Really hope Nad doesn't need all of them" Tukkan grimaced watching the sparks from the device arc through the air when it smashed against the ground.

With only one left Tukkan took off for the center of the ceiling, it was as good a spot as any to place the final disk. Closing in Tukkan noticed the faint red glow emanating from the roof. There they were, the last remaining Fruits of Might, only two of the prickly red fruits remained the rest must have already been consumed by the Crusher Corps. "Well I'll be grabbing these then" Tukkan chuckled pocketing both fruits, they were a lot harder than he had expected so crushing them shouldn't be a problem.

"Now then I guess all that's left is to check their ship" at that a monstrous blast shook the very core of the tree itself. Tukkan heard a loud crack and then watched as an enormous chunk of the tree broke away from the ceiling landing right on top of the Crusher Corps' ship. The hull bent inwards with a sickening screech and a moment later the entire structure exploded in a fierce fire storm. "Or I can forget about it, probably nothing important on it anyways" Tukkan chuckled nervously as the fire began to spread through the tree itself.

Exiting the tree Tukkan took off on foot, again he didn't need to draw unwanted attention. He got what Nadan wanted now it was time to get back. Suddenly an ear-piercing scream echoed across the landscape bringing Tukkan to an immediate halt. Looking upwards the Konatsian chef felt a lump of dread in the back of his throat. Aayla was pinned to the tree above with her orange opponent attacking her furiously with a barrage of punches each one sending shockwaves through the ground itself.

The battle-hardened Securan was getting battered by the bulky Beppan as she tried to keep her guard up. Aayla desperately needed help, but there was no one else around everyone else had an opponent they were dealing with, save for one.

"I don't stand a chance against that guy… Unless." Reaching into his pocket Tukkan withdrew one of the two fruits he had acquired. It was a long shot but he didn't need to actually beat the guy he just needed to stall for time so Aayla could escape. "Oh what the hell" Tukkan said as he took a massive bite out of the prickly fruit. He chomped away at the fruit until there was nothing left, and almost threw it right back up it tasted like dirt!

For a moment nothing happened until suddenly Tukkan felt his strength soar and his muscles bulge before they receded back to their normal size. The power increase was over almost just as fast as it started but the effects were undeniable. He still didn't think he stood a chance but at the very least he could now buy Aayla some decent time to recoup.

Reaching behind him Tukkan drew the two knives he always kept on him from their sheaths on his back. In his right hand he held a seven inch serrated blade he lovingly named Asuka after the girl who gave it to him. In his left he held a smaller six and a half inch straight blade named Lawrence, because what's life without a little whimsy.

Using his newfound power Tukkan rocketed upwards at an incredible speed both blades at the ready. "Don't worry Aayla I got your back."

* * *

 **Fifteen Minutes Earlier**

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Aayla shouted as she searched the devastated landscape for her missing quarry. After the initial headbutt that sent him flying, Amond completely disappeared leaving Aayla on her own. She knew he was out there somewhere but the orange Beppan was keeping a low profile. Unlike the rest of his crew Amond seemed like he could actually hide his Ki from others which to the Securan was an impressive, and annoying, feat.

Suddenly Aayla felt a tremendous force impact her from above, the already brittle ground beneath her gave way and before she knew it she was being driven down into the parched ground. Up above Amond chuckled as he surveyed his handiwork, his Planet Bomb technique was primarily used for planting the Tree of Might but it also doubled for an excellent surprise attack.

Touching down beside the crater he had formed, the large mercenary stared down into the hole Aayla had been forced into. Kicking a rock down the hole, Amond chuckled once more before turning away. "Sorry to have to do that gorgeous but orders are orders" he stated before he felt something snag against his leg. Looking down he furrowed his brow at what he saw, it was a strange blue root that manage to catch on his boot. "What the – Argh!" Amond shouted as his leg was suddenly pulled in to the ground forcing him into an awkward position.

Just as Amond was about to yank his leg out Aayla burst from the ground in a shower of rock and dirt, her Lakee still coiled firmly around the mercenary's leg. Amond only managed to get a brief glimpse of her before she lashed out with a vicious uppercut sending Amond skyward. However he didn't get very far as Aayla pulled her Lakee back to her dragging the Beppan mercenary along with it and right into a straight left from the Azure beauty.

Aayla's face broke into a huge grin as she continued her assault, using this idiot as a punching bag was far more fun than she cared to admit. After a thunderous overhand right that shook the ground itself Aayla finally lost her grip and watched as Amond smacked against the ground hard. Flexing her Lakee Aayla couldn't help but smile at the appendage, after their little adventure on Hermos she had decided to really work on using it more and more. The training and constant use had worked wonders and she couldn't believe she had gone so long without using what was essentially a fifth limb.

A low chortle broke Aayla from her thoughts as Amond stood back up, cracking his neck from side to side. Apart from a few scuffs he was no worse for wear. "Now that's what I'm talking about gorgeous!" Amond hollered as he began walking towards the Securan warrior. "You know Turles is always looking for new recruits, you would make a perfect addition to the crew" Amond said as the brutish Beppan came face to face with the azure beauty.

"Tempting, I would have to put a lot of thought into it" Aayla said coyly. The smirk on her face was mirrored by the one on Amond's and after a moment of silence both warriors threw a simultaneous punch. Both punches connected Aayla's just underneath Amond's jaw while the Beppan's meaty fist slammed into Aayla's entire head. Amond's head jerked upwards from the precise shot while Aayla was completely thrown to the side by the mercenary's superior mass.

Righting herself with a quick flip Aayla was surprised to see the orange Beppan was already in her face and only brought her guard up just in time for an incoming haymaker. Rather than block the full strike Aayla rolled with the heavy punch spinning to the side and driving her heel into Amond's ribcage. The blow managed to crack the Beppan's armour along the right side but much like the rest of her attacks Amond had taken it in stride. "Come on gorgeous just think about it you would be free to do what you want when you want, not to mention all the Fruit of Might you could possibly want" Amond said as he and Aayla locked eyes.

"Oh yeah creepy magic fruit that you have to kill a planet to grow, sounds right up my alley" Aayla chided as she prepped for the next attack. This guy was keeping his power surprisingly low even in the heat of combat, what was his secret?

"I'll admit the fruit takes some getting used to but the benefits are worth it" Amond stated, his muscles bulging to emphasize his point. "Allow me to demonstrate" he smirked as he rocketed towards the azure beauty. Waiting for the last moment Aayla sprung into the air doing a quick front flip over her charging opponent whose momentum carried him onward leaving him exposed to Aayla's counter attack.

The tips of both index fingers glowed crimson as Aayla traced over a dozen lines in the air. Then with a dramatic wave of her hand Aayla called out one her favourite techniques "Zeta Slash!" The crackling lines of hanging energy erupted into a storm of blades each of which honed in on the Beppan mercenary looking to tear him to ribbons.

Noticing the blades coming Amond smirked "going with the fancy stuff huh? I can get behind that." Using the momentum from his charge Amond began spinning around unleashing his own barrage of Ki blades each one just as deadly as Aayla's.

The two bladed storms collided in the air between the two combatants sending flashes of crimson and yellow energy out in all directions. While Amond had decided to hold his ground until the lightshow stopped Aayla had taken a far more proactive approach. She used the searing crimson light and flashes of energy as cover charging forward dodging in between the oncoming blades with dancelike grace. Emerging from the other side of the maelstrom Aayla came out to find… nothing!

Where had he slipped off to? And why was he so damn hard to track? Aayla thought searching all around. The sound of an incoming Ki blade from behind her almost made her heart stop, without any time to analyse the situation Aayla jumped to side only to feel a horrendous tearing pain run its way through her left shoulder. The gush of blood that erupted from the wound as the Ki disk exited her shoulder splashed against the Securan's face colouring her left cheek a deep red.

Aayla hit the ground in a heap grasping her shoulder in pain, she had taken far worse in the past but that didn't change the fact that the pain was excruciating. She needed time, she could already feel her body beginning to stitch itself back together but she needed a minute, luckily this guy liked to talk it seemed.

"Nice shot" Aayla smirked as Amond came back into view from behind an enormous root.

"Thanks gorgeous, got to say this only reinforces what I've been saying, you should join us I bet a few bites of the fruit and you'll be unstoppable" Amond proclaimed crossing his arms with a look of serious contemplation on his face.

"I would've completely dodged it if I could actually sense you" Aayla replied back grasping her shoulder tightly to block it from the mercenary's view. Just a few more seconds and most of the damage will be fixed, just have to keep this idiot yammering, Aayla thought to herself.

"I don't doubt it, and that's just another point in our favour by the way" Amond smirked as he began walking forward. "I could teach you how to keep your power so low not even the most sophisticated scouter would pick you up" Amond stated triumphantly.

"Oh I'm so sure and did your Saiyan boss teach you it?" Aayla smirked back. She could feel her muscles and tendons coming back together, just a little bit more.

"Who Turles? Nah I picked this up on Tartus IV, little prison colony out in the middle of nowhere" Amond said, happy that the beautiful Securan seemed to be taking an interest in him. "Out there you got to learn how to hide just as much as fight, this little trick saved my bacon more than once" Amond chuckled at the memories of his wild prison days. Looking back down he noticed the blood splattered across the azure warrior's stunning features. "You know the fruit can also heal you up really fast, it could fix your arm in a snap."

"That does sound good but" Aayla trailed off as she leapt at the smirking mercenary throwing a straight right punch. The blow never made contact though as Amond caught her outstretched arm in his oversized hand.

"Nice to see you still got some fight in you gorgeous" Amond bent down to be face to face with the azure beauty. He was so close he didn't see the left hook coming until it connected with his temple throwing him completely off balance. As he straightened himself he looked straight at Aayla's shoulder to see that apart from her torn and stained clothing there wasn't a mark on her pristine flesh. "I see you heal fast too, that settles is you need to join up with us, think about it you don't need to stay by that twerp Frieza's side ever again!" Amond declared.

"Here's the thing you lump of stupid muscle" Aayla stated, abandoning her more playful attitude to get her point across. Her crimson Ki flared to life once again surrounding her in swirling tempest of energy. "Being by Frieza's side" Aayla said before disappearing in an instant. "Is right where I want to be" Aayla finished as she reappeared right above Amond's head connecting with a double axe handle strike buckling the imposing Beppan.

Landing feet first on Amond's back Aayla quickly whipped her Lakee around his neck cutting off his air flow. The vicious maneuver wasn't part of her normal repertoire but hanging around Frieza had broadened her fighting style to incorporate a few more brutal techniques like this one. "Had enough?" Aayla smirked as she yanked harder on the mercenary's neck while simultaneously pressing down on his spine with her heels.

Amond's response was a surprising guttural roar as he took off backwards. The sudden movement forced Aayla to lose her balance and was suddenly pressed into the bulky and, after a quick sniff, sweaty Beppan. Amond sandwiched Aayla in between himself and the Tree of Might with a loud thud. Aayla could feel her ribs crack as she impacted the trunk and at that moment she desperately missed her armour.

Spinning around to face her Amond was no longer playing with the Securan and he began throwing a barrage of punches keeping her pinned against the tree. Aayla was doing her best to withstand the punches but the constant onslaught was starting to eat away at her stamina. Spotting an opening Aayla unleashed a Ki beam from both her eyes, the twin beams pierced through Amond's shoulder exploding in a shower of blood and gore out the back. The attack didn't stop him, it only slowed him down by a fraction but that was all she needed.

Using the time gathered Aayla threw out a punch that connected with the oncoming Beppan's. For a moment it looked like the two strikes were at a standstill, then the sound of an ear-piercing crack filled the air as Aayla looked on in horror as her forearm bent inwards folding in on itself. The force of the two strikes was too much for her bones to take and they snapped under the strain leaving her vulnerable and in terrible pain.

Seeing his opportunity Amond poured on the strikes attacking at a frenzied pace each blow knocking a little more life out of the Securan who had the gall to say no to him. Aayla could only guard at this point she was covering her broken arm the best she could from harm with her good arm and legs. At one point she saw an opening and tried to lunge out of the way but the brutish mercenary was having none of it he quickly backhanded her back into the trunk of the tree before attacking once more with renewed vigour.

"You shouldn't have said no to me doll" Amond grunted as he tried to break through Aayla's guard. Despite her injuries she was still holding on longer than anyone else would or could. With a final resounding punch Amond slammed his fist into Aayla pushing her into the tree, she was now stuck in a massive indent. Holding out both his right index and middle finger Amond prepared another Planet Bomb, that should finish her off he thought to himself.

But before he could unleash what would be the finishing blow a sharp piercing pain ran through his shoulder once again. Letting go of his technique Amond looked down to see the tip of a serrated knife protruding from his shoulder wound that Aayla had previously made. "What the-?" Amond began before the knife continued its journey through his shoulder only to be caught at the other end by a silver haired Konatsian.

"Now I'm not really a huge fan of fighting, but I'm not about to let you hurt my friends like that" Tukkan stated as he twirled his serrated knife in one hand while he held the other in a reversed grip with the blade facing Amond who was still clutching his shoulder in pain.

"Tuk don't! You can't take him!" Aayla gasped for breath as she clutched her arm.

"Aayla just focus on fixing that arm and don't worry about me, I've been taking my vitamins" Tukkan laughed as he dropped into a fighting stance with both knives at the ready.

"You think you can take me beanpole?" Amond laughed as he charged Tukkan. Lashing out with a sloppy haymaker Amond was surprised to find he hit nothing but air. The silver haired Konatsian was right there a second ago there was no way he could move that fast, Amond thought to himself. That was when he felt a small stinging sensation along his cheek, reaching up to touch his face he withdrew his hand to find it coated in his own blood.

"Looking for someone?" Tukkan chided from behind him still twirling the knife in his right hand. However it was the knife in his left that hand that drew the mercenary's attention the very edge of the blade had a small crimson tinge along its length now. The silver haired pretty boy had managed to slice his cheek and dodge his attack without him realising it.

With an angered grunt Amond turned his back to the injured Aayla who was still pinned to the tree but out of harm's way for the moment. "I'll grind your bones into dust loser" Amond growled at the Konatsian chef.

"Then let's dance!" Tukkan shouted charging forward. Both fighters exchanged blows all across the darkened sky. Tukkan had the reach advantage with his lankier arms but the Amond's power was devastating, forcing the silver haired chef to pick his shots carefully.

Seeing an opening Tukkan ducked down avoiding a right cross from Amond who followed by lashing out with his boot. The strike connected, slamming into Tukkan's exposed face but the chef had expected it and rolled with the kick until he was now underneath the orange Beppan. Quick as a flash Tukkan struck at the Beppans now exposed hamstring with Asuka, severing the tendon with surgical precision. Following that Tukkan drove the tip of Lawrence straight into Amond's other thigh, this cut was not as clean as the first, bit the end result was the same, both hamstrings had been shredded.

"YOU BASTARD!" Amond howled in agony spinning around and slamming an enormous fist into the side of Tukkan's head. The punch sent the Konatsian chef sailing across the landscape, far away from the tree. Landing hard against a stony cliff knocked most of the wind out of Tukkan but luckily he was to regain his footing .

"Man I really pissed him off" Tukkan chuckled darkly at the fast approaching Ki of the enraged Beppan. Sliding once more into a fighting stance with both knives at the ready Tukkan smirked at Crusher Corps second in command. "Well at least I got you away from Aayla" he said smugly, satisfied that he had saved his friend from further harm. "Come on ugly let's see what else I can slice off!" Tukkan jeered spinning both knives effortlessly.

* * *

Back at the Tree of Might Aayla was just picking herself out of the hole she had been pushed into. Her arm had almost completely realigned itself but it hurt like hell. "This is gonna come back to bite me in the morning" Aayla grumbled as she stretched out her arm feeling the newly formed muscles and tendons scream in protest. Looking to her left she could see Frieza and Turles still going at it like rabid animals attacking each other with reckless abandon.

Through their shared link Aayla could tell Frieza wanted the Saiyan all to himself so rather than argue with the volatile Frost Demon Aayla decided to let him have his fun. Taking a moment to search her surroundings she could feel the others spread out across the landscape. Weiss, Raijin and Tyr were off to the East and looked to be running on empty but so was their opponent it seemed. Cooler and Shuyo were incredibly close together, it almost felt like the pair were fighting side by side against their respective opponents. Aayla shrugged that idea away as soon as it formed, those two couldn't get along to save their lives. That just left Tukkan who was alone against Amond and by the feel of it was starting to hit his limit.

"The others have backup already so looks like I got your back this time Tuk" Aayla smirked as she took off towards the chef's location. She could feel his energy fluctuating wildly as she closed in, Tukkan wasn't used to fighting as it is let alone going all out like he was, if he didn't stop soon he'd burn himself out. Just as Aayla came within range of the cliff the two were fighting on she was blinded by a gigantic explosion. Aayla didn't need her eyes to feel the chef's energy all but disappear in that instant, he must have been at the center of the blast.

"Tuk!" Aayla shouted as she reached the plateau. Amond was standing over him hand clasped firmly around his neck. Tukkan wasn't going down without a fight though driving one knife into Amond's arm while the other was now firmly lodged in into the side of the angered Beppan's face.

Charging forward Aayla landed a sharp knee strike directly to the side of Amond's head throwing him off Tukkan, who immediately began gasping for air. Appearing on the mercenary's other side Aayla went for a quick front kick. The attack was perfectly timed connecting with Amond's approaching chin and tossing him into the air. The sudden change in direction knocked the knife embedded in the Beppan's mouth out and clatter to the ground just as Aayla took off in pursuit.

By the time Aayla had reached him Amond had already straightened out and unleashed a large yellow Ki blast right at her. She had to stop the blast otherwise it would continue on and hit Tukkan who was in no shape to be moving anywhere at the moment. Rather than try to deflect the blast Aayla decided to get a little reckless feeling her Ki swarm around her she picked up her speed and felt the energy around her thicken into a roaring mass of semi solid Ki. "GAMMA IMPACT!" Roared the Securan warrior as she slammed into the destructive Ki blast. The moment she connected with the blast she felt almost all of her momentum vanish as she pressed against the blast. Applying another burst of energy into the attack she forced her way upwards until she completely splintered the beam slamming into a shocked Amond along the way.

Angling downwards Aayla put yet another burst of energy and dove straight at the ground, with the Crusher Corps' second in command still pinned against her attack. They impacted the ground with a tremendous crash that could be felt for miles. Speeding across the ruined landscape Aayla was grinding Amond in between her own shield and the rocky terrain. She could feel his Ki reserves dwindling as she smashed him through rocks, dirt, trees, and whatever else was unlucky enough to get in their way.

"Time to end this" Aayla shouted angling back upwards. Once they had reached the first layer of clouds Aayla came to a screeching halt hurling the stunned and severely injured Beppan into the air. Then taking all the leftover energy from her Gamma Impact she forced it all into a single point in between her hands. An orb of crackling crimson Ki formed in between her hands which only grew in size as she poured more energy into it. Staring up at the dazed Beppan she smirked as the realisation of what was about to happen dawned on his bruised and bloodied face.

"G-gorgeous, don't p-p-please!" Amond managed to eke out just as Aayla thrust her hands outwards.

"THETA CRUSH!" The stream of crackling energy erupted from her hands with a monstrous roar. Amond couldn't even lift his arm up to defend himself before the stream of concentrated Ki slammed into him carrying him farther into the sky. Amond could feel his armour around him crumbling away and his flesh begin to burn as the blast carried him out to space.

Back on the ground Aayla smirked as she felt Amond's energy blink out of existence, this time she knew he was gone and not just hiding his Ki signature. Either he was vaporized by the blast itself or he died in the vacuum of space, both options were ok with the azure beauty. "That's for calling me gorgeous, asshole" Aayla spat as she descended back to the cliff where Tukkan was still lying in pained discomfort.

"Did I ever mention I hate fighting" Tukkan mumbled as Aayla touched down beside him.

"You damn near killed yourself Tuk you have no one to blame but yourself" she chided as she gathered Tukkan in her arms. She noticed that he had recovered his knives as both were lying gently in his arms as she rose back into the air. "I'm going to drop you off with Nadan ok then I'll go see if Weiss or the others need help" Aayla explained as they came within view of the Nemesis. That was when she noticed Nadan directing his drones outside the ship.

Touching down gently, so as to avoid jostling Tukkan too much, Aayla quickly made her way over to Nadan who already had a series of gurneys out. "You're sure prepared" she said trying to hold back a giggle at the sight before her. The yellow bird Weiss had resuscitated seemed to have transformed Nadan's normally well-kept hair into its personal nest.

"Lord Cooler said Shuyo's been hurt I'm sending out my drones to go get him… wait what happened to you Tukkan!?" Nadan exclaimed upon seeing the injured chef.

"Got you your fruit" Tukkan mumbled as he tossed the second fruit over to the Malakan who just managed to catch it out of the air. "I don't advise taking a bite, it tastes like how I feel right now" Tukkan groaned as Aayla laid him down on one of the gurneys.

"He really saved my ass out there Nad, take good care of him" Aayla said as she patted the exhausted chef gently.

"What about you? You need to take a break Aayla I saw your fight, you're in no condition to continue" Nadan stated stepping in front of the azure skinned warrior.

"No can do the others might need-" Ayala trailed off at what she just felt, or stopped feeling was the correct term. Raijin's Ki signature almost completely vanished in an instant. Flaring her Ki, despite the protests from both Nadan and Yang who chirped sharply, Aayla took to the air leaving behind a huge dust cloud in her wake. If Raijin was that hurt then both Tyr and Weiss could be in grave danger.

Aayla was flying at her full speed directly towards Weiss's position but she was still very far out, the kids must have taken their fight farther away from the tree than she expected. Just off to the side she could sense Cooler's power swelling at an incredible rate, the Frost Prince must have unleashed his fifth form, she could tell from there he was now facing two opponents instead of one. But the power difference at this point was laughable Cooler was about to make mincemeat out of those idiots.

Suddenly Tyr's energy blinked out of existence just as Raijin's had. "No no no no, hold on hun I'm on my way!" Aayla exclaimed as she put on another burst of speed only to come to a sudden stop as an unbelievable pressure wave pressed against her. "What the hell?!" Aayla cried out in shock as she felt Weiss' power skyrocket, even from a mile away she could just make out the young Demoness' scream.

Weiss' emerald Ki rocketed into the sky and the air was suddenly filled with the sounds of devastatingly thunderous punches as the young Demoness ravaged her opponent. The power she was putting off was unreal, and Aayla had never seen her go on the attack like this before. With one final strike Weiss sent her opponent careening back down to the ground below. Aayla could now see the young Demoness and was shocked at what she saw, she was taller by about two inches and her muscles had bulged a significant amount. But it was her eyes that really garnered the Securan's attention, they were both solid fields of red, just like Cooler's fifth form.

Aayla's heart suddenly sank as she saw Weiss hold up a single finer into the air. At the tip a single tiny sphere of orange energy, it was probably Aayla's most hated attack. Before Aayla could jump in to stop her, Weiss hurled the Supernova down to her defeated opponents. Time seemed to slow as the sphere expanded forming a ball of pure death the size of a small moon. It was too late, the attack would destroy the entire planet if it managed to connect.

However just as the sphere began to make contact with the surface it exploded in violent cascade of energy that obliterated everything around them for miles. Aayla had to cover her eyes to shield herself from the intense light, but as it faded she was left with an incredible sight. An enormous crater that stretched for miles in either direction and at the center was Weiss herself, looking down with contempt at what had once been her opponents.

"You are the scariest nine year old I've ever met hun" Aayla whispered as she cautiously drew closer. Once she was within a few feet of the girl Aayla felt her energy plummet as she fell out of air, exhaustion finally overcoming the young child. Not wasting a moment Aayla quickly scooped Weiss into her arms gently holding her as she had with Tukkan. Weiss was back to her normal height, her muscles had shrunk back down to their normal size and Weiss' eyes had returned to their previous shade of red. Looking at her like that Aayla had trouble believing the young Demoness had such a fierce power within her.

It was then that Aayla picked up on the faint energy signatures of both Tyr and Raijin, they were both alive but badly injured. Looking down once more Aayla smiled at the young girl in her arms, she had put everything she had into protecting her friends and family. She may have been the scariest nine year old she had ever met but Aayla wouldn't have her any other way.

"I'm proud of you kiddo."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Alright so first things first I have to apologize for the tardiness of this chapter, it took longer to write than expected so I really am sorry guys.**

 **For this chapter main I wanted to specifically give Tukkan something to do as I felt he was a little underused thus far. The idea for him to use knives was actually from one of you, I can't find the review/message from the person who said it so I do apologize for that, but if you're reading this I thank you for the idea, it really helped make Tukkan's fighting style a little more unique.**

 **Also I felt like injecting a few sneak peaks of Frieza's fight with Turles would help people get excited for next chapter.**

 **Once again I put Aayla through hell during this chapter, and I really feel bad about it. But rest assured things will start to look better for her in the following chapters I swear. I did feel like I needed to put the time stamp to on Aayla's fight as her story and Tukkan's do cross over, I won't be doing that very often I just felt like it was need in this case.**

 **One last thing I have no idea why I had so much fun writing in Yang but damn it writing for that bird is enjoyable.**

 **Remember if you want to talk or just have some questions hit me up, you guys have been extra wonderful lately.**

 **Hope you guys are enjoying your summer! PEACE OUT!**


	18. Chapter 18 - F Gon' Give It to Ya

"Now then Frieza, are you ready to get serious?" Turles smirked at the shocked expression on Frieza's face. "You should feel honoured, you're the first person to face this unbelievable strength, it's kind of a privilege isn't it?" Turles began to approach Frieza with long confident strides until he was face to face with the Frost Prince. "I heard about your little altercation with the Super Saiyan back on Namek, I must say, I'm a little disappointed I wasn't your first" Turles gave the stunned Frost Demon a smug wink bringing himself to his full height as he did so.

The gesture drew Frieza from his stunned stupor with a vicious snarl. "I guess I'll just lay your golden pelt in front of my fireplace then!" Frieza exclaimed. Frieza's aura swirled around him as he pushed himself to what he approximated as sixty percent of his maximum strength. He had made the mistake back on Namek to unleash his full might all at once against the Super Saiyan and because of that he burned through his reserves far too quickly. But now things had changed for the Frost Demon, he was stronger, wiser and he had gone through hell to get where he was now. He would not allow this two-bit Goku wannabe be the end of him.

"That's it Frieza give me everything you got, it won't do you a damn bit of good" Turles exclaimed goading the Frost Demon further. Part of him told him to attack now while he had a significant advantage but the Saiyan blood in coursing through his veins demanded a challenge. And what better challenge was there than to destroy his race's executioner at his fullest?

Several tense, silent moments passed where both fighters simply stared the other down before Turles smugly crossed his arms. "Tick tock Friez-" the Saiyan renegade was cut off as Frieza smashed his fist into Turles' chin sending him soaring into the air. Coming to a halt in the eaves of the Tree of Might Turles grinned as he wiped away a small trickle of blood from his mouth. "Looks like he's got some fight in him after all" Turles chuckled darkly.

"I have a whole lot more than you can handle monkey" Frieza roared from behind his opponent lashing out with a flurry of punches and kicks. Turles was immediately put on the defensive as Frieza pushed him through the upper branches of the tree. Controlled fury is what Frieza would have to describe what he was feeling as he pushed the Goku lookalike back. He was doing his best to keep a level head despite his overwhelming desire to see this Saiyan dead at his feet. But he couldn't afford to lose control, not now, not against this super chimp.

Spotting an opening Frieza threw a sharp snap kick connecting with the Saiyan's side, cracking the dark armour's plating with the impact. Barely flinching from the attack, Turles pushed forward grasping the Frost Demon's leg in his left hand while unleashing a flurry of jabs at point blank range with the other. Frieza had not expected the counterattack and with his maneuverability compromised he was forced to raise his guard to block the first flurry, however this left his mid-section wide open for the thunderous side kick delivered by the renegade Saiyan.

The blow knocked the wind out of the enraged Frost Demon along with a wad of phlegm that spattered against Turles' armour. Curling his nose at the sputum, Turles yanked on Frieza's leg pulling him forward into a vicious knee before following with a powerful double axe handle to the Frost Prince's back, Turles finishing the combo with a powerful Ki blast right to the Frost Demon's back sending him hurtling down to the ground below.

Seeing the ground fast approaching Frieza spun around landing feet first, the impact created a massive crater with him at the epicenter. Smirking upwards at his Super Saiyan adversary Frieza called out from his grounded position. "Nice shot Go…" Frieza trailed off as he realised what he was about to say, he had almost called that imposter Goku. No this shadow was nothing like the Saiyan warrior he had fought on Namek, this Turles was nothing more than a pale copy, an imitation, a... "Monkey!" Frieza roared at the top of his lungs all pretense of enjoyment leaving the angered Frost Demon. With a burst of energy Frieza shot back into the dark canopy of the Tree of Might leaving behind a vivid trail of purple Ki in his wake.

He was quickly met head on with Turles who already had a punch coiled back as he broke through the first rung of branches. Turles' attack connected flush with Frieza's cheek with a loud thud. Rather than roll with the punch Frieza opted to push through the strike and countered with his own devastating hook catching his Saiyan adversary off guard. Smacking against the side of the Tree Turles barely had a moment to compose himself before a blinding pain pierced through his abdomen. Looking down the renegade Saiyan was shocked to see a smouldering hole in his armour.

"Hmm I guess that armour's stronger than it looks" Frieza commented drily, his finger still raised with another Death Beam at the ready. With a wicked grin Frieza raised his other hand, both index fingers aglow with purple energy. Racing downwards Turles just got out of the way in time as Frieza unleashed his Death Beam Barrage. Both fingers worked at an incredible pace unleashing a wall of death as Frieza tried to pin the Saiyan pirate down. To his credit Turles was doing a commendable job dodging in between the blasts and staying just barely ahead of Frieza's attack.

Giving chase, Frieza raced out after the Saiyan, temporarily halting his energy barrage to close distance on his target. Out in the open air of the dying planet Frieza's gaze darted in circles trying to locate the renegade Saiyan. He still wasn't the most adept at sensing the energy of others on the fly and in the heat of battle it was even more difficult.

"Looking for me Frieza?!" Turles called out as he attacked the Frost Demon from behind with a vicious kick to the back of the prince's head.

Straightening himself Frieza locked eyes with the smirking Super Saiyan, those same eyes that had haunted his nightmares. "DIE!" Frieza roared to the heavens as he once again unleashed his Death Beam Barrage. Turles bolted right, avoiding the initial volley which streaked through the air, digging a path of destruction across the landscape leading up to the Tree of Might. Spinning around Frieza spotted Turles making a wide arc in his flight path as he attempted to close in on the Frost Demon.

"Want to play games monkey? Fine, let's play" Frieza grinned maliciously as he continued to unleash his torrent of Death Beams at the speeding Saiyan. Turles was racing across the landscape dodging and blocking Death Beams as he did so, for the most part he was staying ahead of majority of the beams but Frieza was constantly sending surges of piercing purple energy in the opposite direction forcing him to changed directions lest he be overwhelmed by the attacks. With such a massive output of Ki Turles was convinced Frieza was blowing through his reserves at an unbelievable rate, he couldn't be more wrong.

Frieza grinned as he made the monkey work, dodging and blocking his constant attack. The Death Beam was a staple of his family and was one of the few things he could say with certainty that he appreciated his father teaching him. It was a phenomenal technique, precise, deadly, fast and it even came with a satisfying sound when unleashed. All of that on top of the incredibly low energy expenditure that came with it made the Death Beam a must have for any ruler who had to be ready to drop a usurper at a moment's notice. If this super simian thought Frieza was going to blow through his reserves with just Death Beams he was in for one rude awakening.

"Better watch out Frieza you're gonna destroy this planet if you're not careful!" Turles laughed as he avoided another wave of Death Beams.

"Look around monkey, you've already taken care of that with your damn tree!" Frieza called back looking to cut off the Super Saiyan with another barrage of Ki blasts from a different direction. "I don't have to hold back against you" Frieza mumbled to himself thoughts flashing back to Namek where his battle with Goku literally tore the planet apart.

"No day dreaming Frieza!" Turles roared as he charged forward getting under the distracted Frost Demon's line of fire. Rocketing upwards Turles connected with a vicious uppercut snapping Frieza's head back and halting the Frost Demon's attack instantly. It was Turles' turn to go on the attack lashing out with a flurry of punches at a mindboggling speed. Frieza immediately went on the defensive ducking and weaving avoiding the flurry of strikes artfully.

Spinning to the side Frieza whipped out his tail smacking the renegade Saiyan in the face before following with a spinning back fist. The tail strike managed to knock the Saiyan backwards just out of the way of the follow up fist leaving Frieza exposed for Turles' counter attack. Raising his hands behind his head Tulres quickly charged a massive sphere of purple energy before thrusting his hands forward unleashing the destructive beam. Frieza was still mid spin when the renegade Saiyan unleashed his Calamity Blaster, the beam slammed into Frieza's exposed mid-section slamming him straight into the side of the Tree of Might with a resounding explosion that shook the massive structure to its core.

As the smoke cleared from Frieza's view he was met by the glowing form of his Saiyan opponent, his orange gi torn to shreds with only his tattered blue undershirt covering his chest… wait. Shaking his head Frieza's vision refocused and once again it was the armoured Saiyan that was standing before him.

"I hope that wasn't too hard Frieza, I want to get the most out of this fight, can't have it ending too early" Turles mocked from his elevated position. With a flare of his golden aura Turles lunged forward with his right hand cocked back.

The Saiyan may have been fast but that attack was horribly telegraphed and so with a simple duck to his right Frieza nimbly dodged the punch which slammed into the tree denting the structure with its impact. Frieza was quick to capitalize on the botched attack by coiling his tail around the Super Saiyan's neck and grasping Turles' left arm with his own. With a swift adjustment Frieza had now taken the renegade's back and proceeded to slam him against the trunk of the tree with a resounding thud. Turles bucked and kicked to try and break the Frost Demon's grip but Frieza held strong slamming his face repeatedly into the mystically enchanted tree with his tail, while unloading a continuous stream of short punches to the Saiyan's kidneys with his right fist.

"What's the matter monkey? Don't tell me you can't break out of a simple hold like this, here I thought you were supposed to be a warrior" Frieza taunted from behind as Turles' armour finally gave way, shattering from the relentless assault.

With an enraged howl, surprising since Frieza was doing his best to collapse his windpipe, Turles unleashed his Ki in all directions. The blast was strong enough to force Frieza to abandon his hold on the Saiyan as well as shield his eyes from the intense light. Before Frieza's vision could clear though Turles went on the attack once more throwing punches and kicks at an increasingly rapid pace. "I'll show you just how much of a warrior I am!" Turles roared attacking Frieza with his savage assault.

Frieza quickly separated from the Saiyan dodging out of the way of another flurry before lashing out with his tail. Turles spotted the attack coming though and grasped the Frost Demon's appendage as it approached. With a wicked grin Turles hefted the Frost Prince over his head and slammed him against one of the branches above him. The branch held though and Frieza used it as leverage to pull the Super Saiyan up to him. Face to face once again Frieza went for another gut punch, which Turles easily defended, then followed with a powerful headbutt that caught the Saiyan off guard. Frieza felt a rush of satisfaction upon connecting with the strike as he both felt and heard the Saiyan's nose collapse from the impact. His ability to breathe was now compromised, and therefor this battle was once again tipping in his favour.

"What's the matter monkey? Can't handle a broken nose? I wonder what else I can break?" Frieza taunted the Saiyan as he wiped away the blood streaming from his now disjointed nose. "You call yourself a Super Saiyan HA!" Frieza cackled as he watched a vein bulge on the side of the angered Saiyan's head. It was far too easy to get under Goku's skin… NOT AGAIN! Frieza roared internally. This imposter is not Goku, not that it matters, both chimps were as good as dead in his book.

Frieza snapped back from his thoughts as the Saiyan renegade rushed forward, the anger once plastered on his face gone, now replaced with a wicked grin. Frieza had been unprepared for the sudden attack and so failed to raise his guard in time as the first strike landed. Turles connected with a chopping left hook snapping Frieza's head to the side before following with swift knee to the Frost Demon's gut, the attack forced the Frieza to retch as he felt the full power of the blow settle in. Was the monkey holding back this entire time? Frieza thought to himself.

Trying to spin around to face his opponent, Frieza's efforts were shut down as Turles landed another powerful knee this time to Frieza's chin knocking him into another branch. Thrusting his hand forward Turles unloaded a Full Power Energy Barrage Wave straight for the stunned Frost Demon. The point blank barrage landed with a tremendous cacophony kicking up a massive cloud of dirt and smoke. Folding both hands over his chest Turles smirked as he called out to his opponent in the cloud "come out Frieza I didn't hit you that hard!"

"I'm afraid you didn't hit me at all" Frieza chuckled as he emerged from the debris cloud cloaked in a swirling, purple Ion Barrier. "A little trick I learn from Raijin" Frieza smirked at the scowl spreading across Turles' face. "You know holding myself to sixty percent of my power has been fun but I think it's time to unwind a little, how's eighty-five sound?"

"Does that mean I can start taking this seriously?" Turles inquired nonchalantly.

"Do your worst Gok…" Frieza began before stopping himself, a dark scowl passing over his face. He wanted this Saiyan dead, if for no other reason than to stop himself from thinking about Goku. Turles was nothing like the Earth raised Saiyan, they looked identical save for Turles' darker skin tone and they both shared the Super Saiyan transformation but that was where the similarities ended. Goku's fighting style was that of a master, mixing both his immense strength with near flawless form and imaginative techniques. Even while their power differential was absurdly distant from each other, Goku used his skill and quick wits to keep him in their fight always rising to meet every challenge he threw at him. He fought with heart and determination that even Frieza himself found commendable.

Meanwhile Turles, this pale imitation, fought like a Saiyan. Ruthless strikes, powerful but simplistic Ki blasts and brutish grapples. His style of fighting was simply boring with no variety just basic attacks that varied in their level of brutality. It was something he had seen in every Saiyan he had ever come across save for two, both Goku and Vegeta broke their race's mould in more ways than one. Both of the Saiyan warriors had fighting styles that varied greatly and incorporated a wide array of techniques that no Saiyan before them had learned.

Now that he was once again face to face with a true Saiyan, that clown Brusel hardly counted, Frieza realised the begrudging respect he had for the pair. In their own ways they were as unlike the rest of their brutish race as they could be. But Turles was the opposite, if anything he was the prototypical Saiyan. Savage, brutish, focusing on raw power to get through a fight, no respect to speak of and not an ounce of eloquence, Turles was the stereotype that had come to define their race.

Goku, I will fight you again someday, Frieza thought to himself genuinely smiling at the thought. And our battle shall surpass anything this imposter is capable of creating.

Returning from his thoughts Frieza was greeted with the golden hued warrior roaring at the top of his lungs as his power soared. Turles' muscles bulged outward, his tail unraveled itself from his waist and blood began leaking from his hands as his nails dug into his palms. "Let's see how well you handle my full power Frieza! You should feel honoured no one has ever been privileged enough to face me at one hundred percent!" Turles roared as he panted heavily from the exertion.

"Then let's see what you've got monkey" Frieza replied. With the snap of his fingers the Ion Barrier surrounding him exploded outward slamming into the fully charged Saiyan and covering his approach. Instead of attacking head on Frieza ducked through the Saiyans legs, coiling his tail around one as he did so. Now back to back with the angered Saiyan Frieza connected with a back elbow to the Saiyan's ribs, but surprisingly Turles shrugged off the blow and spun around to face his opponent with a darkened scowl. Throwing a powerful haymaker at the Frost Demon, Turles was trying to smash the overconfident prince. The sooner Frieza felt his power the sooner he would realise this fight was futile. Frieza had other plans though ducking under the strike Frieza planted both hands together against the Saiyan's chiselled abs and with a grunt of exertion unleashed his Death Cannon against Turles' torso. Frieza was force to let go of his grip on the Saiyan's leg as his Death Cannon slammed Turles into the Tree of Might with a deafening roar.

Turles wasted no time getting back into the action driving straight back up to Frieza, dodging a series of Death Beams on the way up. "That all you got Frieza?" Turles hollered slamming fist first into Frieza's guard sending the Frost Demon backwards from the impact.

Both fighters traded blows furiously in the air sending out powerful shockwaves with each blow. Turles was pressing forward with a fevered pace forcing Frieza on the defensive, but the Frost Demon was still countering the renegade Saiyan's strikes as they came in. Just as he thought, Turles' technique was lacking in form and he was simply relying on his immense strength and speed to tip the fight in his favour. Luckily for Frieza this meant the Saiyan had a tendency to telegraph his attacks and his overall arsenal seemed to be so simplistic that Frieza could predict what he was going to throw before he did.

That didn't change the fact that the Super Saiyan's attacks were still powerful enough to shatter a moon. Raising his arms Frieza managed to block a dropkick from the Saiyan only to feel the force of it rattle through his body. Throwing his arms up Frieza knocked the bulked up Saiyan off balance, using the distraction Frieza got above Turles and connected with a crisp left hook to right straight combo. The hook snapped Turles' head to the side long enough for Frieza's right hand to connect launching the angered Saiyan downwards.

Raising his finger to form a Death Ball Frieza smirked as he watched the Saiyan right himself just in time to see the attack coming. Clasping his hands together Turles formed a ring of fiery orange energy in between his hands which quickly expanded until it was almost two feet wide. Thrusting forward the renegade Saiyan unleashed his Kill Driver at the incoming Death Ball. Both techniques on their own were planet killers and for a moment Frieza wondered if the decaying planet would be able to withstand the force of both attacks. He didn't have long to think about it though as the energy attacks collided with a spectacular corona of purple and orange energy. The two attacks fought each other both trying to push through the other until they both exploded under the combined pressure. The resulting explosion felt like it rattled the entire planet itself and as the smoke cleared Frieza couldn't help but smirk at the giant chunk now missing from the Tree of Might's trunk.

"What are you grinning at?!" Turles shouted, appearing just behind Frieza. Grabbing the Frost Demon's tail Turles rocketed downwards dragging Frieza along with him. With a grunt of effort Turles hurled Frieza downward slamming him against a giant root which gave way upon impact splintering in a shower of massive splinters. Thrusting his hands forward Turles let loose another Calamity Blaster. This time he formed a purple sphere of energy instead of the beam variant. The sphere of raw energy streaked forward impacting the stunned Frost Demon with a colossal explosion that hurled even more debris into the already dust choked air. Not letting up Tulres began hurling Ki blasts at a frenzied pace decimating the area he had slammed Frieza into with the destructive onslaught.

Bursting from the cloud, shrouded in his swirling purple aura, Frieza charged the attacking Saiyan with an animalistic snarl. Thrusting his hand forward Frieza unleashed a Death Cannon from one hand while he prepared a Death Saucer in the other. The beam of energy did its job in forcing Turles to block and cease his attack leaving him open for the deadly blade that Frieza hurled in a wide arc.

Frieza reached Turles first attacking with his own flurry of punches, before lashing out with a side kick to the body. Frieza had noted the growing welt on the side of the Saiyan's side and was looking to exploit it. The impact from the kick caused Turles to retch, Frieza had the satisfaction of feeling one of the Super Saiyan's ribs give way from the impact. It was now or never the Death Saucer was making its approach and Turles was injured, with a quick jab Frieza connected with the angered Saiyan's windpipe, replacing the angered growl with a choked hack.

Grasping Turles' head, Frieza forced him backwards, slamming his face against one of the thicker branches. Out of the corner of his eye he could spot the approaching Death Saucer, just a little more, Frieza thought to himself with wicked glee. Turles was doing his best to try and pry off Frieza's vice like grip but the Frost Demon wasn't budging. That was when Frieza felt the sudden surge of energy coming originating from the east. With his concentration broken even for a fraction of a second Turles managed to remove Frieza's hands before headbutting the still shocked Frost Demon. The blow did the trick as Turles was able to move his head out of the way of the speeding Ki blade just at the last second.

Straightening himself Turles glared at the Frost Demon who had now completely turned away from his Super Saiyan opponent and was now just staring off to the east just a few feet away. "Hey Frieza! Why don't you stop daydreaming so we can end this?!" Turles called out to the distracted Frost Demon.

"That was Weiss" Frieza muttered under his breath. At first he wasn't sure if it was his young protégé but upon closer inspection there was no doubt. He could just barely pick up the quickly diminishing energy of her opponent as she attacked them. Suddenly the young Demoness' opponent's energy all but vanished in an instant much to the older Frost Demon's delight. "That's my girl" Frieza grinned happily wiping a stream of blood away from a cut on his lip. That grin however quickly changed to one of shock as an enormous Supernova erupted in the distance.

The sphere of energy caught Turles' attention as well whose eyes widened in shock at the attack. If that were to hit the planet it could destroy the whole damn thing!

Luckily for both warriors and the few remaining living beings on Bogden the Supernova detonated just above the surface with a blinding flash of light. The explosion could be felt all the way to the Tree of Might and the gusts of wind it kicked up from its detonation threatened to blow away both worn fighters.

Turles looked on in shocked confusion at what just happened, until he heard Frieza, still only a few feet away chuckling to himself. Clenching his fist Turles yelled out to the laughing Frost Prince "Frieza! What the hell was that!?"

Instead of an answer Frieza laughed even harder than before, his coarse laughter echoing across the desolated landscape. Turning to the face his Saiyan adversary Frieza raised his arms to both sides "I'm laughing at you monkey!" Frieza exclaimed proudly.

"What?!" Turles snarled in confusion, his golden aura flaring from his surging anger.

"That lovely little light show was my little girl dispatching the last of your pathetic underlings" Frieza proclaimed, pride filling him at the thought of how much stronger Weiss had become. "As it stands right now myself, my brother and my… bodyguard are still in fighting shape, in fact I would hazard a guess that Cooler's in even better condition than myself right now." Frieza had taken the time to look over his own form as well as his opponents in detail. Both were littered with cuts, bruises, burns and scrapes and both had been bleeding profusely from various wounds across their bodies. But it was the way Turles' chest heaved up and down that caught Frieza's attention more than anything.

"So going to gang up on me? Three on one why am I not surprised from scum like you" Turles spit a glob of blood to the side in disgust.

"Oh no you have me all wrong, you and I shall continue and complete our little soiree one on one, however should I lose…" At that moment the purple comet that was Cooler appeared still in his augmented form. What little sunlight that managed to make it through the clouds glinted off his ivory bio-armour and apart from a few scuffs and scrapes he looked no worse for wear as he stared down the pair before him.

"Alright Frieza, why is the monkey still alive?" Cooler asked his voice partially muffled by the bone mask over his face.

"Well brother we can't all have the luxury of fighting the underlings now can?" Frieza grinned at his brother's hulking form. Tilting his head to the side Frieza smile widened as he spotted a familiar crimson aura. "Here comes Aayla now, excellent" Frieza proclaimed as Aayla came to a halt beside Cooler. Frieza noticed she was not in as good a shape as his brother, her clothes were torn in several places and her shoulder was caked in dried blood, Frieza also noted how she seemed to be cradling her right arm gingerly.

'How are you?' Frieza asked the Securan warrior through their mental bond.

'I've been better, I really miss my armour but I'll survive' she responded coolly.

'Good to hear, how are the others?' Frieza called back.

'Shuyo, Raijin, Tyr, Weiss and Tukkan are going to be out of it for a while, they did all did great' Aayla responded, Frieza could just detect a hint of pride in her voice which Frieza himself shared.

"Alright Aayla's here, can we just put this chimp down now?" Cooler asked gruffly, breaking the pair from their internal conversation. Cooler was staring down the guarded Saiyan with his deep red eyes as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"No no brother, as I was telling Turles here, I will be finishing this fight. However on the off chance I fail, it is your duty to make sure he doesn't leave this planet alive" Frieza explained. "Don't worry though this fight's already over, won't be much longer now" Frieza chuckled as he turned back to his Saiyan adversary.

"Don't sell yourself short Frieza I'm sure you can last at least another five minutes against me" Turles smirked, rotating his shoulders to relieve the tension in them.

"Oh my, aren't we full of ourselves" Frieza chided. "You don't even realise your own weakness, that alone is a sure sign of your defeat." Frieza floated forward shortening the distance between them steadily.

"Weakness? HA! I'm the most powerful Saiyan the universe has ever seen, I have no weaknesses" Turles laughed, lowering himself into a fighting stance as he did so.

"See that's where you're wrong my dear friend, you haven't used the Super Saiyan transformation in a real fight before correct?" Frieza asked while crossing his arms triumphantly.

"What of it?" Turles asked angrily.

"Just as I thought, you're not used to the form and it's burning through your reserves at an accelerated rate, myself and my father have both made that mistake in the past" Frieza chuckled darkly. "In summation you are going to burn yourself out in the next few minutes or so, not that it matters, after all…" Frieza's smile widened as he stared down the renegade Saiyan. "I'm still only fighting at eighty-five percent of my full power."

"You're lying!" Turles roared as he charged forward, his aura flaring in response to his anger. Before Turles could reach him though Frieza pushed himself that final fifteen percent and with an immense burst of energy ground Turles' advance to a halt. Small arcs of electricity arced from Frieza's body as he began moving forward, since the battle of Namek he had managed to regulate his full power keeping it from getting out of control. He no longer needed to bulk up to the extraneous amount he did against Goku.

Standing before the shocked Turles, with only a small increase in overall muscle mass, Frieza opened his arms wide inviting the Saiyan to attack him. "I have been known to tell a mistruth from time to time, this however is not one of those instances" Frieza was swaying his tail back and forth idly, which told Aayla just how relaxed he truly was.

Undeterred Turles attacked once again looking to smash Frieza into the dirt. The pair traded strikes once more at a furious pace but unlike before Turles could sense the change in the dynamic of their exchanges. Frieza bobbed and weaved avoiding most of what Turles threw, those he didn't dodge were blocked while the Frost Demon fired back with thunderous kicks and strikes with his tail. A quick smack from Frieza's tail broke off Turles' assault long enough for the Frost Demon to connect with a sharp side kick to the Saiyan's midsection. Frieza followed the kick with a quick flip until he was positioned right over Turles just in time to drive his knee into the renegade Saiyan's back ,driving him down to the parched ground below.

Golden light exploded from Turles in all directions forcing Frieza to pull back from the grounded Saiyan giving Turles the opening he needed to go back on the attack. With Frieza still dazed from the explosion of energy he was left vulnerable for the incoming Saiyan. Turles landed a right hook snapping Frieza's head to the side just in time to be met by the Saiyan's elbow. Frieza felt blood gush from his nose, it seemed the monkey still had some fight in him. Turles pushed forward shouting like a man possessed throwing everything in his arsenal to take down the Frost Demon, but the harder he pushed the more tired he felt.

Frieza picked up on the Saiyan's growing lethargy immediately and with a triumphant grin countered a sluggish straight right with a sharp jab to the Saiyan's right eye. The light strike had more effect on the Saiyan than expected, almost immediately Turles eye began to swell shut and a dark bruise already began setting in.

"That looks like a broken orbital bone" Frieza chuckled as Turles grasped the side of his face in pain. Taking a step forward Frieza regarded his opponent with grim satisfaction, this fight was almost over.

With a guttural roar Turles thrust his hands forward pouring all his energy into an immense Calamity Blaster. Taken off guard Frieza held out his hands just in time to brace against the purple energy wave that carried him upwards. The blast burned against the Frost Demon's hands as it carried him past the clouds. With a grunt of exertion Frieza threw his hands upwards diverting the beam over his head and into deep space.

Frieza descended from the clouds arms crossed in annoyance that such an attack had taken him by surprise. Once he breached the cloud layer he spotted Turles at the base of the Tree of Might. Both of his hands were clasped together and he was channeling what little energy he had left into one final Kill Driver, he would kill Frieza even if it meant his own demise.

Smirking to himself Frieza raised a single finger into the air forming a crackling sphere of dark purple Ki at its tip. "Betting everything on one last attack monkey? I'll take those odds!" Frieza exclaimed as he threw his newly formed Death Ball down to its target. As Frieza released his attack Turles did the same with his own unleashing the most powerful Kill Driver of his life. The ring of fiery orange Ki streaked upwards towards approaching sphere of electrified purple death, both attacks looked like they were on a direct collision course and would make contact at any moment.

With a wry smile Frieza clasped his outstretched hand together forming a fist, the action forcing the thrown Death Ball to condense in size. Now only as large as Frieza's own fist the Death Ball passed in between the edges of the Kill Driver and hurtled with increasing speed as it sped towards the shocked Saiyan. "And that is what you get for creating a Ki attack that has a big gaping hole in it monkey!" Frieza called out as he dove through the approaching Kill Driver.

Turles was completely spent and could only look on in disappointment as the tiny sphere slammed into the center of his chest. Turles felt his hair dip down and change back to its original colouring as the Death Ball bored its way through his chest. This was the end of the line for the renegade Saiyan, but just as he felt the Death Ball begin to explode outward from the center of his chest he managed to glance upwards with a triumphant smile as he watched his Kill Driver impact its true target.

The Death Ball exploded violently, blasting a sizeable chunk out of the Tree of Might. Turles himself vanished in the swirling purple firestorm but Frieza was unnerved by the look on the Saiyan's face. He had seen people smile at the end of their lives in the past but rarely did they look so… triumphant, it reminded him eerily of Seluba just before he destroyed Fuar in his death throws. That was when he heard the explosion emanate from behind him.

Spinning around Frieza looked up in horror to see the Saiyan's true objective, he had never meant to hit him, Turles had been using what little energy he had left to shatter Bogden's moon! Frieza looked on in horror as he watched the moon break apart from the impact. Bogden's gravity was already pulling the pieces down creating a meteor shower with chunks of rock the size of entire cities.

Cooler and Aayla were at his side almost immediately both of them staring at the approaching calamity. "So what are we going to do about that?" Cooler asked already charging an attack in either hand.

"We are getting off this damn planet now" Frieza growled in irritation. His opponents could never let him just savour a win they always seemed to have the last laugh.

"We're not going to try and stop it?" Aayla asked eyeing the incoming rocks with apprehension.

"This planet's already history, it's just a rotting corpse at this point, I say we let it die quickly" Frieza responded before taking off towards the ship. Both Cooler and Aayla took a moment to look back to each other before nodding in unison. As much as they didn't want to admit it, Frieza was right, the fact that the planet had survived their own fights was shocking enough. And so with a burst of crimson and purple Ki both warriors took off after their leader, back towards The Nemesis.

Nadan had been monitoring the entire ordeal and so the ship was already prepped for takeoff by the time Frieza, Aayla and Cooler boarded. Before the airlock had even closed, Nadan had already gunned the engines lifting off with a tremendous roar. The trio stormed onto the bridge to see Nadan working furiously at the controls, the debris from Bogden's moon was starting to rain down and the winds kicking up from their re-entry and impacts were throwing The Nemesis around violently.

"Nadan get us out of here!" Frieza called from the captain's chair as he braced himself against it.

"I'm trying my Lord this isn't easy!" The Malakan prodigy called back his voice laced with anxiety and frustration. "Damn it I'm a doctor not a pilot!"

The entire ship shook as a thunderous crash echoed across the hull. Lights all across Nadan's console suddenly lit up red and several warning lights flashed in the Malakan's face as he wrestled with the controls desperate to regain control.

"Nadan what was that?" Aayla asked nervously as another crash echoed across the hull.

"Those are chunks of the moon hitting us, don't worry shields are still at… well seventeen percent is better than nothing right?" Nadan gulped nervously.

Still standing at the door to the bridge Cooler, who was still in his augmented form chuckled darkly as a series of small pings rattled against the diminishing shielding. "Should I get out and push?" Cooler said garnering dark looks from both Aayla and Frieza. "What?" Cooler shrugged as another rattle shook the ship to its core.

"Not the time brot – ARGHH!" Frieza yelled out in surprise as The Nemesis lurched forward knocking everyone who wasn't seated to the ground. Looking out the front viewport Frieza watched the desolate landscape fly past them at an incredible speed, Nadan had managed to get the ship to go as close to faster than light travel as possible without a hyperdrive engine. The problem with that was they were still in the atmosphere and with less than ten percent shielding left the friction alone could burn The Nemesis to a crisp.

"Hold on!" Nadan called out as he arched The Nemesis upwards. Frieza grasped the back of the captain's chair as he tried to right himself. He could just make out the shield readings from across the room and his heart sank as he watched the shields dip below three percent. A massive impact rattled off the shields sending The Nemesis into an upwards tailspin. They were completely out of control at this point with the atmosphere quickly approaching. Frieza was grasping the captain's chair for dear life while Aayla was pinned against the far wall and Cooler bounced along the floor the sheer force of the spinning ship hurling him across the bridge. They smashed through Bogden's decaying atmosphere with one final resounding smash that took the shields to one percent before rocketing into the vastness of space.

Nadan quickly ran his hands across the console, fighting the force of the spinning ship. His struggle was soon rewarded as after a few additional moments of nauseating spinning The Nemesis finally came to a halt. Nadan had to quickly release the shields or run the risk of a complete overload. Slouching back in his seat the Malakan scientist let out a drawn out sigh of relief at finally being out of harm's way.

"Ugh is it over?" Aayla moaned as she slowly got to her feet.

"I hope so" Frieza groaned in discomfort, he was draped over the back of the captain's chair, the universe still seemed to be spinning after their heart racing exit.

A horrible retching sound came from behind the pair. Spinning around they saw Cooler on all fours reverting back to his naturally unsealed form. As his bone mask receded a gush of vomit splashed onto the deck of the bridge with a sickening splash. "I should have stayed on the planet" Cooler mumbled hollowly.

A few moments passed in silence before Frieza burst out laughing, it wasn't a malicious or demeaning laugh but one of pure mirth. Nadan and Aayla quickly joined him as Cooler groaned and rolled onto his side wiping away the disgusting mess splattered across his face. They had won and if the worst thing to come of it was Cooler puking inside his own bone mask then Frieza could definitely count today as a victory.

* * *

"Hey, how you doing?" Aayla asked as she made her way into Frieza's personal quarters. It had now been several hours since their escape from Bogden and Frieza had promptly locked himself away in his room following their victory.

"I'm fine, how are the others?" Frieza asked, he was lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling intently, the red sheets were a stark contrast to his ivory white skin.

"They're doing fine, Raijin and Tyr just got out of the healing tanks, Shuyo, Tukkan and Weiss insisted they go first. Tukkan and Weiss are in there now, you should have seen it Tyr and Raijin practically had to force Weiss into it" Aayla chuckled. "Shuyo's being Shuyo he's just meditating in his room he said he'll enter the bacta tank once the others are out" Aayla sat herself beside the brooding Frost Demon looking him over as she did. "Your brother's taken no less than five showers so far and Nadan's hard at work trying to fix the ship, he said shields will be up in an hour."

"Good… Good" Frieza mumbled absentmindedly.

"You know I'm proud of you" Aayla said catching the Frost Demon's attention.

"For what?" Frieza asked guardedly.

"Well because of you we stopped a bunch of planet hopping pirates from destroying every planet they come across" Aayla placed her hand on top of Frieza's and smiled at the former tyrant. "You just saved a few trillion lives" Aayla smirked at Frieza's raised eyebrows. "I'm serious! Who would have guessed you had an altruistic side to you."

"I don't know what you're talking about" Frieza grumbled diverting his eyes from the piercing azure ones of the Securan warrior.

"Of course you don't" Aayla replied slyly. "Now how about you actually tell me what's eating at you."

With a deep sigh Frieza rose to a seated position beside the azure beauty, staring straight into her stunning eyes.

"That whole fight…" Frieza paused trying to figure out how to proceed. "I kept seeing him…" Frieza trailed off, uncertainty laced in his normally commanding, self-confident voice.

"Who?" Aayla asked, although she believed she had a good idea already.

"Goku… I kept seeing him, not Turles, I know they looked damn identical but I thought I had enough sense to distinguish the two" Frieza grumbled.

"It was probably just the heat of the battle, you were fighting a Super Saiyan who just so happened to look exactly like Goku, you're not crazy for getting the two mixed up" Aayla said, patting Frieza's back gently as she did.

"Perhaps, but that isn't everything…" Frieza once again trailed off as he tried to organize his thoughts. Aayla could have simply looked into his mind through their link but out of respect for Frieza she would let him come to the conclusion. "As the fight drew on I began comparing them, not just the way they fought but also their body language, their ways of speaking, their attitude and the whole time all I could think of is how superior Goku was" once again Frieza trailed off. "I would have preferred it if I was facing Goku himself, not this pale imitation and not just because I want to defeat him, because I knew I would have enjoyed myself far more if he was there instead."

"Sounds like you have a little respect for him" Aayla said giving Frieza another pat on the back.

"I can't have respect for him! He is my enemy!" Frieza exclaimed throwing his hands in the air. "You don't show your adversary any weakness" Frieza said clenching his fists in anger.

"And that sounds like something your father would say" Aayla stated, the disapproval evident in her voice. "Look there's nothing wrong with having a little respect for someone you have to fight, in fact if anything it keeps you edge for whatever they can throw at you, so if look at it the right way a little respect is beneficial."

"Perhaps…" Frieza muttered more to himself than to Aayla.

Frieza suddenly felt Aayla wrap her arms around him in a warm embrace, snapping him from his thoughts in shock. The hug only lasted a few moments but when Aayla pulled back she still had a warm smile on her face as she looked at the befuddled expression on Frieza's.

"Come on, time to get out of your room and socialize, no more sulking ok?" She asked, holding out her hand as she rose to her feet.

Frieza stared uncertainly at her outstretched hand for a moment before sighing and grasping it with his own." Very well, let's see how the others are doing" Frieza conceded. Just as the two were about to leave the room Frieza came to a sudden halt and spun around to glare across the room. Looking from one side to the other he didn't see anything and it was completely silent, but he could have sworn he heard… no that would have been impossible.

"Something wrong?" Aayla called out from outside the room.

"No… it's nothing" Frieza replied back cautiously taking one final look around the room. It couldn't have been… it must have been his imagination, after all… Queen Skadi had been dead for over forty-five years now.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **And so concludes the Tree of Might Saga, I really hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. For the chapter title I have wanted to name a chapter this pretty much since the beginning I just had to wait for the right one to come along and i felt like this was it. Next chapter's going to be far more lighthearted (special thanks to WolveHulk for helping to bring me to that conclusion).**

 **It's been a while since we last had Frieza really fight so I had to go dip into the old Frieza footage vault to familiarize myself with his style (had to do the same with Turles) and I'm very glad with the results. Like with my other fights as well I'm trying to incorporate a more tactical side of things that we don't always see in the show.**

 **Got to say I loved writing the heart to heart between Frieza and Aayla, it was supposed to only be half the length but it quickly grew and I couldn't be happier with how well I felt it flowed.**

 **I also tried my best to incorporate Frieza dealing with a Goku look-a-like while not having it completely obstruct the fight itself. Frieza realising he does have a begrudging respect for Goku will help in the future when they meet again.**

 **Also I ruined another planet it seems… I'm not sorry. The escape from the exploding moon came literally last minute and I just had to add it in felt like an exciting topper to the Saga.**

 **Well that's it for now we are officially at 100 followers which I can't believe you guys have been great and I'm so happy you're enjoying the story. As usual if you want to talk or have some questions hit me up.**

 **Until next time guys hope you're enjoying Summer.**


	19. Chapter 19 - Everybody Loves Frieza

"I WILL MURDER THAT BLASTED BIRD!" Frieza exclaimed tearing the sheets off his bed in a rage. It had now been four days since their victory against Turles and his Crusher Corps and since then every morning, like clockwork, Yang would fly down the corridors of The Nemesis chirping loudly as if to greet the new day. Wrenching the door to his quarters open in a huff Frieza stuck his head into the hall in time to see the energetic bird fly past followed closely by Weiss.

Grabbing the young Frost Demoness by the tail Frieza lifted Weiss into the air to face him. "Weiss, when I said you could keep that bird I did not say you could allow it to fly across the ship and wake everyone up at this ungodly hour" Frieza stated staring down his nervous protégé.

"I'm sorry Frieza, she just gets excited when I wake up, I'll see if I can keep her calm!" Weiss exclaimed still hanging upside down. In all honesty this wouldn't have been a problem if the girl didn't get up so early in the first place. She was usually the first one awake, aside from Nadan who never seemed to sleep.

Frieza pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, it would be so much easier to vaporize the bird and pretend like he had no idea what happened to it. Unfortunately Frieza already knew that Weiss would be devastated, she had taken to the bird remarkably quickly. Furthermore Aayla would probably find out and would no doubt be less than pleased by his actions.

The sound of crisp chirping dragged Frieza out of his thoughts, he could just barely feel the onset of a migraine beginning to set in. The bird had returned to them and was now resting on Frieza's shoulder looking up into his red eyes with mild curiosity. The bird was certainly a strange one, most wildlife fled in fear of Frieza, never before had anything simply flown up and landed on his shoulder. Perhaps already being on death's door had emboldened the yellow bird.

"Very well" Frieza conceded eventually letting Weiss drop to the ground. Yang quickly left the Frost Prince's shoulder to land on the shoulder of the younger Demoness. "Try to keep her quiet in the mornings from now on" at that Frieza gave Yang a menacing glare to which she only tilted her head in confusion.

"You bet Frieza I won't let you down!" Weiss grinned as she nuzzled Yang against her.

"See that you don't… Now off with you get some breakfast, we have training later today" Frieza stated turning around to make his way to the bridge. At this point he was already awake, no point trying to get back to sleep.

"Right Frieza, I'll see you then!" Weiss exclaimed as she ran down the corridor to the dining room with Yang trailing her, in surprising silence Frieza noted.

Frieza steadily walked down the corridors in silence passing no one else along the way, most of them were probably in the dining room eating breakfast. A quick scan of their energy signatures confirmed the Frost Demon's suspicion. As he made his way onto the bridge Frieza was immediately greeted by Nadan who was at the helm. "Good morning Lord Frieza" Nadan welcomed politely.

"Indeed, good morning Nadan what is today's itinerary?" Frieza asked taking a seat in the captain's chair.

"We'll be touching down on Planet Langden by tonight my Lord" Nadan stated from his seat.

"Excellent it's about time we come across a planet we can land on" Frieza responded as he stared out into the void. Turles and his crew had laid to waste almost every single planet they came across in their spree leaving only the planets behind that couldn't support the Tree of Might. The Bogon Cluster was now just a shell of its former self with only a small handful of habitable planets left, Langden being one of the most cultivated and heavily populated, it was probably next on their list of targets.

"Has there been any luck finding a new hyperdrive system?" Frieza inquired from his chair. When all he received was a dejected shake of the Malakan scientists head Frieza groaned in exasperation. "We have one of the most advanced ships in the damn universe but without a damn hyperdrive we are moving at a snail's pace!" Frieza exclaimed, even the simplest of trips were taking forever without the ability to have the ship go faster than light.

Nadan had no response, which always irritated the Malakan prodigy, there was nothing he could do he had scoured every inch of the galactic database and had come up short every time. The pair drifted off into silence both enraptured by their own thoughts until Nadan broke the silence. "My Lord may I ask you a question" Nadan inquired rising from his chair to face the Frost Prince.

"Ask away" Frieza responded absentmindedly.

"We still have that extra fruit from the Tree of Might in my lab, I was wondering if you would like to eat it?" Nadan inquired taking a few steps towards Frieza as he did so. "I already collected enough samples to run my tests so I don't believe I need the whole thing" Nadan was staring at Frieza now with a curious look that the Frost Demon couldn't quite place. "It would undoubtedly raise your power immensely."

"That it would" Frieza responded mulling over the idea in his head. The boost in power would most likely be substantial and give him an even greater edge when he inevitably came across Goku. However, using an outside source to artificially increase his own power wasn't sitting well with Frieza. It was exactly what his father had wanted him to do back when he returned from Namek. Just as before the answer was still no, he would defeat the Goku with his own strength and no interference, only then would his vengeance truly be satiated.

"My Lord?" Nadan asked staring intently at Frieza who was lost in thought.

After several tense seconds Frieza turned to face Nadan before waving his hand in disinterest. "I have no need for such trivial fruit, the strength it would bestow me would hardly be noteworthy" Frieza stated as he stood up. He needed no mystical fruit to prove he was the mightiest in the universe he only needed his own power. "I'll entrust it to you for your own studies" Frieza smiled at his chief scientist who straightened at the surprisingly generous offer.

"T-thank you my Lord" Nadan stammered he had not expected such a kind gesture from the Frost Prince. "I'll keep it in my lab if you ever change your mind" Nadan reassured as Frieza made his way off the bridge.

"That won't be necessary" Frieza called out before the door shut behind him leaving the Frost Demon alone in the corridor. Frieza stood there for several minutes contemplating his latest decision, stating the fruit wouldn't give him a substantial enough boost was an outright lie. In fact Frieza was fairly certain the fruit would have given his power such an immense boost he would have been able to defeat Turles with one arm tied behind his back. The choice to turn it down the fruit all together had Frieza thinking. Why? It was a free power boost and Frieza knew he would need every bit of power he could attain to face Goku, who was no doubt getting stronger by the day.

It was strange just around two years ago now he had run off to Namek at the mere thought of using the Dragon Balls to gain immortality. However now the mere thought of using some external force to make himself stronger was just… distasteful. Still wrapped up in his own thoughts Frieza began making his way through The Nemesis, paying little mind to his surroundings. It wasn't long until the enraptured Frost Demon collided with someone else accidently.

"A little distracted are we Frieza?" Shuyo smirked as he righted himself and looked down at the surprised Frost Demon.

"You could say that" Frieza replied curtly.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Shuyo responded crossing his arms over his chest as he usually did.

Frieza looked up to the stoic monk with a bemused expression "that won't be neces-" Frieza trailed away as he actually took in what the monk had said. On the one hand he detested speaking to others about the state of his own mind but on the other Shuyo was arguably the best option aboard the ship. Nadan was far too scientifically focused to be much help, Tukkan rarely took anything seriously, the idea of going to the children was laughable, Aayla already knew what was going on in his head and Cooler… Well talking with his brother over a sensitive topic such as this was not something the Frost Prince wanted to deal with. That left Shuyo, the impassive monk who didn't seem to have a judgemental bone in his six foot, two inch green body.

"On second thought perhaps I do have some things to get off my chest" Frieza conceded.

"Very well, follow me" Shuyo stated before turning on his heel. He quickly made his way down the hall his long strides in stark contrast to those of the smaller Frost Demon. After a few minutes of brisk walking Frieza found himself entering the room he knew was Shuyo's living quarters, though he had never stepped foot there in the past. The room much like its resident was sparse only having the most basic necessities.

"You know you have full access to the financial accounts, you could use some of it to liven up this place" Frieza commented as he took in the room. Apart from the basic furnishing there really wasn't anything unique about the room save for a pair of comfortable looking chairs. The light blue walls themselves were bare, with the only defining feature to them being the light switch, comm system and the window that looked out into the vastness of deep space.

Shuyo had wasted little time and was already sitting down in one of the ebony chairs. With a casual twist of his hand Shuyo wordlessly beckoned for Frieza to take a seat. "I have very little need for material goods, remember I've been a nomad for most of my life…" Shuyo trailed off taking a quick glance around the room before smiling back at Frieza. "But perhaps I could find some art to hang on the walls" Shuyo continued to smile as Frieza seated himself opposite him. "So what would you like to talk about?"

Frieza sat in silence for almost two straight minutes, in truth he didn't know where to begin or how to express what had been running through his head these past few days. It didn't help that he wasn't the most adept at friendly conversation to begin with. Eventually Frieza managed to mutter "Goku…" before trailing off again trying to gather his thoughts.

"Ah yes, the Saiyan who defeated you on Namek" Shuyo stated leaning back in his chair and bringing his hand to lightly scratch his chin. Shuyo noted how Frieza's lip curled at the mention of his defeat on Namek. The Frost Prince truly despised losing and to date that stood as arguably his greatest defeat, well it had been until the battle Fuar.

"That blasted monkey, even when I'm not actually fighting him he's still on my mind!" Frieza blurted out straightening in his seat his energy levels temporarily spiking from the outburst. "That whole damn fight with Turles I kept seeing him, it got to the point where I actually thought I was going mad!" Frieza threw his arms in the air in exasperation. Now that he had started talking it seemed like he couldn't stop "what's worse is I actually wished I was fighting him instead and not that two-bit imposter!"

"Well that is to be somewhat expected, you do want to defeat him after all" Shuyo replied patiently. These types of outbursts were an uncommon sight from the Frost Prince, he usually tried to carry himself with an air of regality that set him apart from others.

"No that's not it, it wasn't because I wanted Goku there so I could destroy him, instead… I wanted him there because I knew the fight would have been more enjoyable" Frieza said locking eyes with the stoic monk who stared back taking in the Frost Demon's words. "I've already told Aayla all of this…" Frieza trailed off again tapping his knee with his index finger absentmindedly.

"I'm not surprised, what did she say?" Shuyo asked while trying to gauge Frieza's emotional spectrum. At the moment it was completely muddled a mixture of so many different emotions it was almost impossible to get a definite reading. It was no wonder the Frost Demon seemed so preoccupied the last few days.

"Oh she was her usual supportive self, told me everything was going to be ok" Frieza sneered at the idea. "She said I must have some level of respect for the monkey."

"Well, she's not wrong" Shuyo stated looking at Frieza as he bristled with indignation. Ignoring the sneer on the Frost Demon's face Shuyo continued on "tell me why do you hate the Saiyans so much, didn't they serve you for years?"

"They did, but there were some complications…" Frieza grumbled in irritation.

"Such as?" Shuyo pressed, he could sense they were touching on something important. In truth he hadn't found out that Frieza had wiped out the Saiyans until he joined with Frieza's crew, before that it had been the general consensus that the Saiyan homeworld was destroyed by a meteor.

"I may have been… wary that a Saiyan would one day grow strong enough to challenge me" Frieza responded guardedly. Frieza remembered how many of even the low-class Saiyans had grown to match some of his own elite warriors in terms of strength.

"You were afraid of them so you decided to blow them all up" Shuyo said his eyebrows raised in surprise, he hadn't expected that of the Frost Prince. He had thought perhaps it was due to a rebellion or even just to make an example of them. Shuyo had not expected such an act of fear from the tyrant.

"No, I was wary of them… so I blew them up, but clearly I missed a few" Frieza grumbled once more sinking into the cushions of his seat. Goku, his son, Vegeta and that lavender haired boy who fought his father were all that remained of the Saiyan race, at least as far as Frieza knew. There could be countless others spread across the universe left unchecked for all he knew at this point.

"And the ones left behind just happened to grow strong enough to challenge you, one in particular actually succeeding in defeating you" Shuyo leaned back taking in the information. Frieza certainly was one of a kind, he was so worried about the thought of a Saiyan growing strong enough to defeat him that he inadvertently forced one to do just that. But something was nagging at Shuyo now, the way Frieza described himself wasn't quite what lined up with the Frost Demon before him. Something happened in between then and now that caused the change in his personality and Shuyo would bet he knew what caused it… or at least what had begun this change.

"Tell me Frieza, what do you think about when you recall your fight with the Saiyan on Namek?" Shuyo asked leaning in to get a better view of the Frost Demon's face.

"It stands as my… second greatest failure now, but I can't deny, I enjoyed every minute of that fight even while I was losing I never felt so alive" Frieza said somberly. The thoughts of that battle still fresh in his mind. Goku rising back up every time he knocked him down, the Saiyan keeping him on his toes with every counter attack and most importantly the Saiyan's ascension to the legendary warrior that Frieza had feared for years. Yes, he feared the legend of the Super Saiyan, though he would never say it aloud.

"So you only hate the Saiyans because they could have produced a warrior to overthrow you, which they only did because of your interference" Shuyo stated observing the thoughtful Frost Demon. "And when that warrior finally arrived, not only did he let you live but you enjoyed fighting him so much that you now have a desire to replicate that same feeling." That explained so much about the differences Shuyo had observed in Frieza and his reputation.

Before meeting him Shuyo had heard the Frost Demon rarely got involved in actual fighting, allowing his henchmen to do his grunt work while he sat back and watched from afar. But now, after experiencing a true fight like the one he had on Namek, he now desired that same feeling which can only come through fighting a worthy adversary. At the moment it seems the Frost Demon's mind was telling him that that was Goku. It was quite ironic as it was something that most Saiyans went about their lives.

"It seems you have quite a bit to thank Goku for" Shuyo finally said earning him a dark glare from the Frost Demon. "I'm serious, for the first time in your life you have a rival, something that drives you forward" Shuyo stated firmly, a smile creeping across his face. "You have no reason to hate the Saiyans as the ones that are left are the very thing driving you onward at this point."

"We'll see" was all Frieza's response, but a part of him was taking what the monk was saying to heart. The only reason Frieza had even begun training was because of the desire to surpass Goku. Without that he never would have been ready for when Fuar came under attack. He would have most likely died, ironically at the hands of the very monk sitting across from him. Without his training he never would have grown so attached to Aayla, he would have simply written her off as another subordinate, and he never would have met Weiss or the other children. In short Goku was responsible for the family that had formed around him, which filled the Frost Demon with a rare sense of both gratitude and resentment.

Several minutes passed in silence as both men sifted through their thoughts, finally it was Frieza who broke the hush. "Enough of the Saiyans let's talk about something else, how has your search been?" Frieza inquired desiring a change in topic.

"My search?" Shuyo asked uncertainly.

"For your people, have you been able to find anything about them?" Frieza pressed.

"Oh... Oh! Right I almost forgot" Shuyo chuckled, he had actually been taken aback by the Frost Demon's question. He had not expected Frieza to take an interest in his own quest, it may have only been to change the subject but Shuyo still added it to the list of things that showed the ongoing change the former tyrant was undergoing.

The stoic monk's smile faded though as his mind went back to his seemingly fruitless quest. "I have been completely unsuccessful" Shuyo muttered softly. I have gone through the galactic databases multiple times, with no luck." Shuyo reached into his robes to pull out the thin necklace around his neck. "I've tried running this symbol through every language translator over a dozen times and the only thing that's come back is Tauron slang for soup" Frieza could detect a rare hint of anger in the otherwise stoic monk's voice.

"Are you beginning to think this venture of yours is hopeless?" Frieza asked from his seated position, it was his turn now be the voice of wisdom. People seemed to forget that Frieza was not stupid and he could provide sagely advice whenever the incredibly rare opportunity revealed itself.

"That's what I've thought for years, I guess I just got my hopes up with all the information on this ship" Shuyo waved his hand around dejectedly to emphasize his point.

With a sly smirk Frieza leaned in placing a hand on the melancholic monk's shoulder "perhaps this quest of yours is your own personal Goku."

"What do you mean?" Shuyo asked with a confused look.

"Well just as you said that super simian seems to be the thing pushing me forward, perhaps this search for your people is what you should use to push yourself onward." Frieza sat back smugly as a smile made its way back to Shuyo's face.

"Very well let's make a deal then, I won't stop looking for my people and you don't stop trying to surpass that Saiyan" Shuyo said happily.

"That's something I can get behind" Frieza responded getting up from the comfortable chair and stretching his arms out. "Well I'm glad I got some of that off my chest, I have to get going now, training with Weiss, she's probably already there" Frieza stated as he began to make his way to the door, with Shuyo following closely behind him.

Once they got out into the hall they said their farewells and went in opposite directions with Frieza heading to the training room and Shuyo heading to the dining room. After all that talking Shuyo thought he could use a cup of tea, and perhaps he would be able to brainstorm with Nadan for different solutions to find his people. It was funny he went into that meeting to be a sympathetic ear for Frieza, he had not expected the Frost Demon to return the favour and in truth he was quite glad he did. It was those small gestures, those blink and you miss it moments, that helped convince Shuyo that joining with the galactic tyrant was the right move.

* * *

"Gorgeous Beam!" Weiss shouted unleashing a stream of emerald energy from her eyes.

Raising his finger Frieza returned fire with a Death Beam that intercepted the emerald beams mid-flight. The two coloured beams fought for dominance before both exploded outward in a brilliant flash of light. Weiss used the cover of the dazzling display to make her approach, flying in low she reached Frieza only to immediately charge upwards connecting a sharp uppercut to the Frost Demon's chin.

The strike snapped Frieza's head back, but he used the momentum to backflip and countered with a powerful kick to the young Demoness' own chin. Both Frost Demons separated from each other to catch their breath. Frieza could tell Weiss was almost completely exhausted at this point, shockingly enough the young girl had really made Frieza work this time around, he was panting heavier than he ever had before during their training sessions.

"Hope the gravity isn't too hard on you my dear" Frieza smirked at the weary Demoness. They had now been fighting at three hundred and fifty times the galactic standard for a week and Weiss had risen to the challenge sticking with her mentor every step of the way and improving by leaps and bounds. She was still a long way from being as strong as himself but at this point she could give anyone on this ship a run for their money.

"Nah… It's great… Barely feel it" Weiss panted heavily. Ever since the battle on Bogden she had been working herself half to death improve her skills. She had failed to protect both Raijin and Tyr and they got hurt because she couldn't finish that Beenz clown right away. She couldn't afford to let that happen ever again.

"That's my girl" Frieza chuckled at the young Demoness' determination. It was astounding how much he admired the ball of determination that was Weiss. She met every single challenge presented to her with a confidence he rarely saw in others.

Weiss exhaled deeply one last time before charging forward once more. The determined girl threw a right cross, that Frieza just barely avoided, before following up with a left snap kick. Though the punch missed the kick landed catching her mentor off guard and leaving a visible welt from the blow. Weiss kept on the attack forcing Frieza into a surprising retreat. Frieza was dodging most of Weiss' attacks but more than ever before he was forced to raise his guard as the young girl's thunderous strikes landed.

"Excellent! Keep it up!" Frieza exclaimed as Weiss ducked low and went up for another uppercut only to be met by Frieza's tail streaking downward. Weiss' punch connected with Frieza's tail with a deafening thud, spotting an opening Weiss fired another Gorgeous Beam this time aimed directly at the welt left by her earlier snap kick.

The beam struck with a blinding flash forcing Frieza to retreat in pain as he clutched his side gingerly. Weiss touched down and was about to push forward when she spotted the pained grimace on her mentors face. "Oh! I'm sorry Frieza! I didn't mean to hurt…" Weiss was cut off by Frieza's raised hand. Holding her hands behind her back she waited for the Frost Demon to begin berating her for the underhanded maneuver.

"Good work my dear" Frieza chuckled to Weiss' absolute surprise.

"You're not mad?" Weiss asked timidly taking a tentative step forward.

Rising back to his full height Frieza smirked at his worried protégé. "My dear do you remember what one of the most important combat lessons I ever taught you was?" Frieza asked as he made his way over to the young girl.

"If the attack isn't impressive don't bother using it?" Weiss asked.

"Well yes, but no not that one" Frieza replied.

"A little taunting goes a long way?" Weiss inquired.

"Again yes, but the other one" Frieza stated a small scowl passing over his face.

"Oh! You mean exploit any and all weaknesses?" Weiss exclaimed to which Frieza nodded in confirmation.

"Precisely, and you did an immaculate job doing just that" Frieza said placing his hand on the young girls shoulder. "Now come let's continue" Frieza said turning around to walk back to the center of the training room.

"Are you sure? We can take a break if you want" Weiss stated eyeing the red welt on her mentor's side.

"My dear I've taken far worse injuries than this" Frieza chuckled drily. "Now come let's test your endurance a little" Frieza stated as he used his tail to increase the gravity multiplier by another ten points. The effect was sudden but Frieza was able to shrug it off, Weiss on the other hand almost buckled at the sudden increase. "It seems you might not be able to handle it, I guess I'll just turn the setting back down" Frieza stated slyly watching the struggling Frost Demoness.

"NO! I can do this!" Weiss exclaimed straightening up, her emerald aura swirling around her.

"That's more like it" Frieza smiled, setting himself in a fighting position. Weiss may have been more mature than the average child but she was still a kid at heart. And Frieza knew the easiest way to get a child to do something was to tell them they couldn't do it in the first place.

With a big gulp of air Weiss charged forward once more, her speed was hampered from the gravity increase but still surprising for someone so young. Ducking his head to the left Frieza dodged the straight left Weiss threw and then blocked the follow up tail swipe from his young protégé. "Good, keep pressing the attack, use more unorthodox strikes to keep me off balance" Frieza called out blocking a flurry of punches from the determined girl.

Sidestepping an axe kick from Weiss Frieza countered with a sharp jab that caught the young girl's chin throwing her off balance. The enhanced gravity took care of the rest slamming the determined Demoness against the floor with a resounding crash. Standing over the grounded Demoness Frieza smirked holding out his hand for her to grasp. Hauling her back to her feet Frieza pat her on the shoulder, smiling with pride at how far she had come since first meeting her back on Fuar.

"Excellent form, but you need to watch you don't overextend yourself" Frieza stated as he straightened back up to roll his shoulders. "You need to be mindful of your placement so you don't leave an exploitable opening" Frieza walked over to the controls to turn down the gravity when he was brought to a halt by a sudden surge of energy behind him.

Weiss' aura was a darker shade of green and her crimson pupils were shining brightly as she faced her mentor. "Leave… the gravity… alone" Weiss demanded, her voice slightly deeper than before.

After a few moments of silence Frieza conceded to the young Demoness. "Very well we shall continue" Frieza said preparing himself once more. This must have been the power he had felt from her back on Bogden, Frieza thought to himself as Weiss' muscles began to bulge. Frieza kept a close eye on the girl as her body shook from her own swelling power.

With an angered yell Weiss charged forward with a shocking burst of speed slamming her knee into Frieza's chin. The sudden impact took Frieza off his feet before Weiss drove her knee downward slamming Frieza into the ground with an immense impact. Coiling his tail around the young girl's midsection Frieza tossed her across the room before getting back to his feet. Weiss slammed into the wall feet first sending shudders throughout the ship as she braced against the Katchin wall. With a snarl Weiss rushed forward by springing off the wall. She extended her left hand outward unleashing a volley of Ki blasts while she cocked her right hand back for an immense haymaker.

Frieza brought up and Ion Barrier to deflect the Ki projectiles however when Weiss slammed her fist into the shield it quickly gave way from the colossal punch. The strike itself killed all the momentum the young girl had in her leaving her floating amidst the smoke kicked up by the attack. Moving quickly Frieza appeared just behind the young girl and connected with a sharp chop to the back of her neck. The blow would have decapitated a lesser being but for the enraged Demoness it simply knocked her out, her aura vanishing in an instant as she fell into the waiting arms of her concerned mentor.

As Frieza made his way over to the training room's control center he looked down at the unconscious girl in his arms with concern. "Scariest damn nine year old in the universe" Frieza muttered as he shut down the gravity augmenters. As the gravity returned to normal Frieza took a seat on the ground with the still unconscious Weiss in his arms. Looking her over he noticed her musculature had returned to its normal state and her power had dipped dramatically.

It was quite astonishing and a tad infuriating that Cooler had managed to reach a fifth transformation before he did, it was downright ludicrous that Weiss seemed to be on the cusp of a similar transformation. How did they do it? Frieza thought to himself, he was naturally more powerful than both of them in his unsealed state surely this new transformation should come to him easily. Looking back down at the young girl in his arms Frieza realized there was nothing easy about the transformation as her body felt like it was on fire and Frieza recalled the pained look she had as her power soared. No this new transformation would not come easily not for him and it seemed not for Weiss either. Just as with Cooler it seemed to accentuate anger and aggression, he would have to have a talk with his brother about the girl's condition if this kept up.

"W-where am I?" Weiss moaned as she regained consciousness.

"Still in the training room my dear" Frieza responded with a smile.

"What happened? I can't remember anything" Weiss groaned as she rose from her seated position.

Well that's interesting, Frieza mentally noted as he looked into the crimson pupils of his protégé. "You pushed yourself a little too hard it seems" Frieza responded helping the girl to stand only for her legs to give out. Placing her in a seated position beside him Frieza placed his hand on the young Demoness' head. "You did extraordinarily well" Frieza commended Weiss as she prodded her, no doubt incredibly soar, muscles.

"Really?" Weiss asked her head perking up from the praise.

"Indeed" Frieza replied straightening in surprise as Weiss rested her head against the side of his body.

The two Frost Demons sat together for over ten minutes in silence. Frieza was lost in thought on what to do with the girl she needed to learn how to control this possible new form otherwise she could become a detriment to those around her. There was also the possibility that her younger form wasn't capable of handling the excess power. It was certainly an interesting question, one he would have to speak with both Cooler and Nadan to get a definite answer.

"Hey Frieza?" Weiss asked softly from beside her mentor.

"Yes?" Frieza responded looking down at the exhausted girl.

"When are you going to ask Aayla out?" The out of nowhere question almost floored the shocked Frost Demon.

"I-I-I well you see… about that… I… WHAT!?" Frieza exclaimed at a complete loss of words.

"Well it's just you two have been together for so long and there has to be some kind of attraction there. You both seem happier when you're around each other" Weiss said staring at the befuddled Frost Demon.

"It's… it's not that simple Weiss" Frieza muttered crossing his arms in irritation.

"Why not just ask her then? Make it simple, either she says yes or no, either way you get an answer" Weiss replied rising to her still shaky feet. She slowly made her way to the door of the training room leaving a dumbstruck Frieza in her wake. Just as she opened the door she turned back to her still seated mentor "you know she's been waiting pretty patiently for a long time now, I guarantee you, you'll make her day" and with that the young Demoness closed the door leaving Frieza alone to mull over her words.

* * *

"Alright Frieza you can do this" Frieza stated as he paced around the confines of his room. "Come on, you've ruled most of the known universe you can ask her out damn it!" Frieza exclaimed as he stood in front of the large rectangular mirror on the wall. Staring at his own reflection intently Frieza nearly jumped at the sound of a soft knock at the door. "Alright time to get this over with" Frieza mumbled. Frieza quickly made his way to the door and with a quick wave of his hand opened the sliding doors.

"Hey Frieza!" Tukkan exclaimed standing in the doorway cheerfully. "So I just came in to give you a few pointers on how to ask out Aayla" the smiling chef quickly stepped into the room wrapping an arm around the taken aback Frost Demon.

"Wait how did you…" Frieza began to say before getting cut off by Tukkan.

"Not important, all you need to know is, I got your back" Tukkan replied. Frieza had heard quite a bit of Tukkan's stellar 'advice'. Nadan had probably broken the galactic record for getting slapped per minute.

"Right" Frieza said guardedly. "Tell you what why don't you tell me in the dining room instead" Frieza said steering them both back to the doorway. Frieza knew the chef meant well by it and was only hoping to help but this was something he would take care of by himself.

"Yeah sure thing pal whatever you prefer" Tukkan replied cheerily.

As they reached the doorway Frieza reached out and grasped the back of Tukkan's jacket lifting him into the air earning a startled yelp from the Konatsian chef. With a quick flick of his wrist Frieza threw Tukkan down the hall and out of sight, with any luck he would land relatively close to the dining room.

Slamming the door closed behind him Frieza smirked to himself "to be fair he did say whatever I prefer." Just as he made his way back to the mirror another knock echoed through the room snapping his head back to the entryway. Frieza cautiously made his way back to the entryway again straightening himself before he opened the door once more. This time he was met with both Shuyo and his brother.

"Can I help you?" Frieza questioned the two taller warriors only to be interrupted by Cooler's raised finger.

"We heard, don't ask, now I have one thing to say" Cooler stated prodding his brother in the center of his chest. After a few tense moments Cooler's eyes narrowed towards his brother. "Don't mess this up" was all the older Frost Demon said before turning on his heel and strolling back down the corridor and leaving behind a dumbstruck Frieza.

Shuyo approached immediately afterwards placing a reassuring hand on the Frost Demon's shoulder. "Good luck" Shuyo stated before turning around and quickly following Cooler down the corridor. Just as he left the door closed in Frieza's face leaving the Frost Demon utterly bewildered. How did they all know? And more importantly why did they keep trying to butt in. Frieza didn't even make it halfway across the room before a third knock at the door rang through the room.

In an angered huff Frieza marched over to the door sliding his hand over the sensor to open it. "I swear if this is Nadan or the kids I am going to…" Frieza trailed off as he was greeted by Aayla herself standing in the doorway. She was wearing black skin tight leggings that accentuated the curve of her hips and simultaneously contrasted the flowing, white, sleeveless tunic draped over her shoulders. The contrasting white and black served to highlight the azure beauty's stunning skin, and leave Frost Demons speechless.

"You wanted to speak with me?" Aayla asked as she stepped into the Frost Demon's living quarters. "Is now a bad time?" She asked as she gently touched one of the violet flowers sitting in an expensive vase off to the side of the room just outside the bathroom.

Finding his voice Frieza quickly replied "no now's perfect." Making his way over to stand beside Aayla his heart sank as he realised he had no idea how to proceed.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Aayla asked with a smile turning her attention back to Frieza.

"I wanted to talk to you about…" Frieza trailed off trying to figure out the best way to move forward. Why was this so damn hard? I've survived an entire planet exploding underneath my feet, I've run an entire universe spanning empire, I can ask a damn woman out! Frieza roared internally in frustration.

A soft giggle caught Frieza's attention, looking up he saw Aayla standing with her back against the wall and a smug smile on her face. Kicking off the wall Aayla waltzed over to Frieza and wrapped him in a tight hug, taking Frieza completely off guard. "I would love to" Aayla said as she pulled away from the confused Frost Demon.

"But… what… why… how?" Frieza stammered completely confused.

Aayla laughed again this time tapping the side of her head as she did so. "You were a little loud there, also I've known ever since you're training session today with Weiss" Aayla said patting Frieza on the back as she did so.

Frieza had completely forgotten about their mental link they shared, it then dawned on him that he had been ranting about asking her out almost all afternoon in his head. "You heard all of that?" Frieza asked his already ivory skin paling even further.

"How could I not" Aayla smirked at the annoyed look on Frieza's face. Aayla then draped her Lakee over one of Frieza's shoulder before pulling him close once more. "So where you taking me?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Greetings fans of all things fiction! How are you all doing? I hope your well….. I know this ones coming super late and I am so sorry for that. It's been a hell of a week chief among those was having to get a new laptop as the old one essentially melted. The other reason is Pokémon Go… I can't stop playing but on the bright side dropped like 12 pounds so silver lining there right?**

 **As I said last chapter this one was far more lighthearted and I even got a small sparring match between Frieza and Weiss which I had fun writing. I will admit it was somewhat different writing a short fight where the combatants aren't trying to murder each other so that was fun.**

 **One of the things we'll be touching on in the coming chapters is Shuyo's people, I got something special planned for that, which I hope you'll all enjoy. I got to say I do like adding some mystery to the story.**

 **Now for the big part Frieza and Aayla are going on a date, see I can write good things to happen to Aayla. For asking her out I see Frieza as a very demanding person in general, however with Aayla she's kinda broken through the crusty shell that is Frieza's irritability so I wanted to show Frieza being uncertain on how to actually go about asking her. Let's face it we've all had that happen where we second guess ourselves and feel like we have no clue what to say.**

 **Also the name of the chapter is a reference to one of my favorite sitcoms growing up which I wanted to add in.**

 **Next chapter going to focus on primarily Frieza and Aayla's date night, I also have something planned for Cooler and Shuyo's budding friendship.**

 **As always if you want to talk hit me up I'm always willing to talk, I really hope you guys can forgive me for the lateness of this chapter I'll try to get us back on track for scheduling.**

 **Until next time have an awesome summer, if you'll excuse me I got a Scyther to catch *runs off into the night***


	20. Chapter 20 - Night On The Town

Planet Langden was originally a lush green and vibrant jungle planet, its inhabitants had cultivated it into a shining beacon of life over one thousand years ago. However, once the planet had been introduced to the galactic theater and other races arrived on the world its deforestation began. The once lush green world had been transformed into a planet of steel and technology, abandoning the natural ecosystem that had reigned for time immemorial. As time drew on the original Langdens died out or left with the change to their ecosystem being too jarring to handle and so the world was left for those who came later to make it their home. It was not an uncommon story, Frieza had seen the same thing happen countless times in the past.

As Langden loomed in the viewport of The Nemesis Frieza couldn't help but smirk, they hadn't come across a large metropolitan planet in weeks and they were starting to run low on supplies. Turning away from the sight of the incoming planet Frieza faced the rest of the crew who had gathered aboard the bridge. "Alright we'll be touching down shortly, I expect us to stay there for about a week so let's make the most of it alright?" Frieza stated to the rest who nodded excitedly. This was the first cultivated planet they had come across in a long time that hadn't been sucked dry by the Tree of Might, needless to say everyone was excited to stretch their legs.

"If it's alright with you My Lord I think I'll be staying aboard the ship, I can get more done from here" Nadan stated from his seat. Nadan was busy plotting their landing and so didn't notice Tukkan come up behind him until the Konatsian had him in a joking headlock.

"Not a chance pal you are coming with me, I can't go out there without my number one wingman!" Tukkan exclaimed cheerfully as Nadan struggled against the chef's grip.

"You might as well listen to him Nadan, he won't let up and you know it" Cooler called out from his position near the door. The older Frost Prince was leant up against the wall with Shuyo beside him, Frieza noted they had eerily identical postures, the two were so alike it was almost comical.

"Argh fine just let go you oaf!" Nadan choked out.

"See was that so hard?" Tukkan grinned as Nadan shot venomous daggers with his intense gaze.

"Yes yes yes everyone gets out, we've all been cooped up on this ship for far too long" Frieza stated before catching sight of the excited huddle the kids had formed. Strolling over to the trio Frieza stood before the oblivious bunch until Yang, who was perched on Weiss' shoulder, began chirping softly at the Frost Prince. The lyrical call drew the three kids' attention to the imposing Frost Demon before them.

"Oh! Hey Frieza… We were just planning what we were going to do when we landed" Tyr said cheerfully. Frieza spotted the mischievous glint in the Dramon's eye immediately and bent down to the young boy's level.

"I figured as much, now I will remind you we are here to relax, that means I better not hear that any of you have started up any fights got it?" Frieza asked never breaking eye contact with the black haired youth.

"Why are you only looking at me?" Tyr mumbled uncomfortably under the Frost Demon's stare.

"Oh I think it's pretty obvious why" Frieza stated before breaking eye contact to look over at Raijin. "Raijin" Frieza called the young Zamt's name, who nearly jumped at the sudden attention.

"Y-yes Frieza?" Raijin asked nervously, if Tyr had trouble with Frieza's stare down it was even worse for the four eyed youth who looked like he wanted to melt into the floor to get away.

"I expect you to be the responsible one, keep them in line" Frieza commanded before turning away from the trio. Weiss under normal circumstances would have been well behaved, but Tyr had a way of getting her to go along with his schemes when normally she wouldn't have any part in it. Frieza hoped the more level headed Raijin would keep the others out of trouble.

"Lord Frieza we have an incoming hailing request from Langden" Nadan called from his seat.

"Put them through" Frieza commanded taking a seat in the captain's chair.

"Unidentified ship, this is Langden Flight Control, you are unauthorized to land please halt your entry or we will be forced to escort you off world" the voice through the intercom commanded.

"Attention Langden Flight Control, this is Lord Frieza, either you let us land or… Well you can't really stop me now can you?" Frieza smirked at the silence that followed his statement. He could just pick up the sounds of shuffling and brief whispers before the, clearly startled, voice returned.

"U-unidentified s-s-ship you have full c-clearance to land wherever you feel… Please enjoy your st-stay" the LFC operator stammered out in a clear panic. At that Nadan pushed The Nemesis into full re-entry the shields keeping the friction down to a bare minimum as they passed through the thick atmosphere.

'You know I love it when you flex your 'I am Lord Frieza terror of the universe' muscles' Aayla purred to Frieza through their mental link. She had been surprisingly quiet after accepting to let Frieza take her out on the town. By no means was Frieza complaining but he was still taken off guard by her sudden statement.

'Well sometimes having a reputation as the most terrifying and powerful being in the universe has its positive aspects' Frieza responded coolly from the captain's chair.

'Just wait until word gets out that you're the only reason they weren't all killed by evil space pirates and their magic tree' Aayla replied back as she took a spot beside Frieza resting her hand on the ivory tyrant's shoulder.

Glancing up into the azures eyes of the Securan warrior Frieza smirked at the soft smile gracing her already stunning features. 'I would prefer if that didn't get spread around, after all I do have an image to uphold' Frieza stated just as The Nemesis broke through the cloud cover revealing the bustling cityscape before them that seemed to, and probably did, stretch on forever. It was then that Frieza noticed the army of ships and armoured craft surrounding the landing platform they were approaching. 'On the downside though my reputation usually ends up garnering the wrong type of attention' Frieza deadpanned at the assembled military force.

"Damn it Frieza!" Cooler exclaimed from the rear of the bridge, making his way beside his brother. The annoyed scowl on his face was matched by his brother's as the two Frost Demons stared each other down.

"What did I do!?" Frieza exclaimed back, throwing his hands in the air in agitation.

"Well I doubt they're here for Shuyo" Cooler shot back bending down to get in his brother's face, all the while pointing to the small fleet waiting for them.

"Look we'll go out there and calmly talk things out, tell them we're just here to relax" Frieza stated standing up to his full height, which didn't equate to much when compared with his brother.

"I swear you're more trouble than your worth sometimes" Cooler grumbled before returning back to his position beside Shuyo.

"Nadan if they fire on us how's the ship gonna hold up?" Tukkan asked from behind the Malakan scientist.

"Are you kidding? I designed this ship to withstand attacks from Lord Frieza, we would tear through those idiots like wet paper if we had to" Nadan said as he guided the ship down.

Even from inside the ship Shuyo could sense the emotions of the gathered force outside. In all his years he had never before felt so much abject terror, all of it directed towards the Frost Demon sitting in the captain's chair in front of him. "They're completely terrified" Shuyo remarked aloud gathering everyone's attention.

"As they should be" Frieza stated as he stood up. "Let's get this over with then" Frieza sighed as he turned to leave the bridge, the rest of his crew in tow.

"Yang you should probably stay inside ok" Weiss said patting the brilliant yellow bird gently. Yang tilted her head to the side before chirping and taking to the air. She sped down the corridor in the opposite direction back to the bridge.

"Ok how did you do that?" Raijin asked from behind the Frost Demoness.

"Do what?" Weiss asked curiously.

"How did you control her? Do you have some kind of crazy power to talk to animals?" Raijin asked extending his neck to get a closer look at the Demoness.

"No she just listens, she's not just some dumb animal" Weiss huffed as the group reached the entryway.

"But she doesn't listen to any of us" Tyr chimed in from beside Weiss, his tail swishing back and forth casually.

"I guess she just likes me better dolt" Weiss smirked, turning her head up.

"Enough" Frieza commanded as the group walked down the entrance ramp. Waiting for them at the end of the ramp was a delegation of various mixed races. It was a good representation of Langden itself which had quickly become a melting pot for just about every race in the galaxy. Frieza's group came to a halt a just a few feet away from the group that had arrived and waited for them to make the first move. Over the years Frieza had dealt with these types of greetings on numerous occasions. They would send some expendable nobody to be the mouth piece while their guns were trained on his forces it was nothing new.

The first to speak was a tall Brench with bright yellow skin that was almost hard to look at it in the sunlight. "Greetings Lord Frieza, I am Ambassador Qliph I am here to welcome you to Langden and to let you know that anything you need is at your disposal." That had taken Frieza off guard they didn't usually send in an actual ambassador to these types of greetings there was always too high a risk that he would vaporize them.

Composing himself Frieza addressed Ambassador Qliph as the rest seemed far too scared to say something themselves. "I appreciate the welcome, however the matter of the small army you assembled to greet me has me questioning your intentions" Frieza stated slowly looking around at the assembled military force.

"My apologies my Lord we had to be certain it was in fact you, the whole planet has been on alert for weeks now you see" Qliph responded hastily before waving off the aircraft and gathered ground forces surrounding The Nemesis.

"What form of alert would warrant such a response?" Frieza inquired watching as the ships pulled away and the gathered soldiers nearly bowled each other over in a mad dash to escape the area.

"Well we got word of the Crusher Corps' approach weeks ago so we've been preparing for a full scale war" Qliph stated seeming to gain more confidence as the conversation continued. He definitely was the real deal then, no imposter would have held his ground for so long in the Frost Demon's presence. "Then when we received word that you had destroyed them we were elated to say the least" Qliph continued a small smile crossing his features for the first time.

"Hang on" Frieza interrupted, garnering a nervous gulp from the Brench ambassador. "How did you know we destroyed them?" Frieza asked eyeing the nervous dignitary.

"Well you see My Lord we received video footage of the battles you and your crew underwent to defeat them" Qliph nervously scratched the back of his neck, not knowing how this conversation was going to proceed. "The videos have gone quite viral and you've become sort of a hero around these parts, you did save us after all" Qliph concluded.

'Aayla' Frieza called out through the pair's shared link never breaking eye contact with the diplomats before him.

'Yeah hun?' Aayla answered back, the smallest hint of a mischievous giggle barely hidden in her response.

'You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you?' Frieza inquired from the Securan warrior.

'I have no clue what they're talking about' Aayla snickered at Frieza's displeased tone. 'But hey I did tell you they'd be grateful for saving them' the azure beauty replied, enjoying the situation. It had actually been one of the first things she did once she was back aboard The Nemesis. It wasn't difficult to gain access to the video footage and a quick upload she set the ball in motion for the galactic opinion of Frieza to change.

Rolling his eyes Frieza addressed Qliph once more. "Yes we did dispose of them and you are now safe… though that now brings us back to the question of the assembled military greeting" Frieza stated watching as once again Qliph scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Well you see we are forever in your debt My Lord, it's just that you are well… you" Qliph clenched his eyes shut awaiting the, no doubt, painful retribution coming to him for speaking so boldly. However the blow never came instead what he received was a round of laughter from the Frost Demon. Qliph and his grounp couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"I guess that's a fair point then" Frieza chuckled at the dumfounded look on all the assembled dignitaries' faces. "Now that that's all cleared up, let's move on shall we?" Frieza stated to which the assembled group nodded feverishly wanting to stay on the Frost Tyrant's good side. "My crew and myself are only here to relax and get out, however we do need to refuel, pick up more provisions and otherwise just have some basic maintenance performed on the ship" Frieza stated patting the hull of The Nemesis. "If you would be kind enough to have that set up for us I would be most grateful" Frieza said playfully, his tail shifting from side to side.

"Of course My Lord" Qliph bowed as Nadan approached with a datapad in hand.

"This is the list of supplies we will need to restock the ship" Nadan stated handing the datapad over to Qliph who handled it gingerly. "I don't want anyone touching the ship without me being on site understand? For now just get the supplies we need, and if you can, please look for a Z-40t Walkon hyperdrive. If you find one immediately bring it to us we'll pay any price for it" Nadan stated before spinning on his heel to stand beside Tukkan once more.

"Of course sir I'll have some of my best techs looking into it immediately" Qliph responded quickly still cradling the datapad in his arms. Looking back over Frieza's group the Brench dignitary recomposed himself before addressing them once more. "If you're here to relax and enjoy yourselves I can assure you Langden has no shortage of amenities at your disposal please see the sights we are eternally grateful for what you've done for us My Lord" and with that Qliph and the rest of his group turned around and quickly made their way off the landing platform leaving Frieza and his group alone, save for a few service droids milling about.

"Well… that was interesting" Frieza commented drily turning to face his group. "Now then I expect you all to enjoy yourselves, Nadan I'll leave the matter of the supplies and ship parts up to you" Frieza stated addressing the Malakan scientist. "Tukkan, make sure he enjoys himself before he gets back to work" Frieza smirked at the bright smile that flooded across the Konatsian chefs face.

"Aye aye captain!" Tukkan exclaimed saluting Frieza with his silver ponytail swinging in the wind. Reaching down he quickly scooped up Nadan in yet another headlock before carrying him away. "Come on buddy lets go paint the town… oh sweet they have cars for us I'll drive!" Tukkan exclaimed as he dashed over to an awaiting hover car.

"What?! NO! Lord Frieza please save me! Don't let him take me!" Nadan screamed as Tukkan threw him into the passenger's side. The Malakan scientist's screams were quickly drowned out as Tukkan ignited the engine with a hearty roar. The driver side window rolled down revealing the cheerful chef behind the wheel with the struggling Nadan trying desperately to jump out his window. With a loud rev of the engine the car reversed with a sudden lurch flattening a maintenance droid in a shower of sparks. Tukkan flinched at the sound of grinding metal before taking off in the proper direction rocketing into the sky and cutting off a passing car on its way out.

"One of those two are going to kill the other" Shuyo commented as he and Cooler made their way forward.

"I have money on Tukkan's driving doing it" Cooler replied smirking at the Konatsian chef's atrocious driving. "We're going to head out now brother" Cooler stated looking back to Frieza with that same smirk still on his face. "Shuyo and I are heading to a combat tournament going on a few miles from here care to join?" Cooler smirked as Frieza mulled over the invitation.

"I'll have to pass I'll be busy with other matters tonight" Frieza stated woodenly, knowing exactly what his brother was trying to do.

"Oh I'm sure you will be" Cooler stated slyly patting his brother on his shoulder and giving Aayla a curt nod before taking off with the stoic monk in tow.

Both Aayla and Frieza watched the quickly disappearing pair as they took off into the sky, the slowly setting sun silhouetting them in the distance. "Since when did those two become best buddies?" Aayla asked as they both watched the retreating pair.

"No clue… but I guess I owe Tukkan twenty credits" Frieza grumbled at the thought of the Konatsian chef's smug grin.

"They're kind of a cute couple don't you think?" Aayla snickered at the expense of the two warriors.

"Oh yes once we rebuild the kingdom Shuyo will make an excellent queen" Frieza smirked.

"Really now? You don't want to be in charge?" Aayla asked legitimately caught off guard by the Frost Prince's comment. She had fully expected Frieza to take the mantle if they were ever able to bring the kingdom back to its former glory.

"These past few months have allowed me a lot of time to think and reflect and… Where do you think you're going?" Frieza asked turning around to glare at the trio who were attempting to sneak away without anyone noticing. Raijin nearly knocked over Weiss and Tyr as they came to a halt, righting themselves the trio turned around to face the two remaining adults.

"We were just heading out and we didn't want to disturb you" Weiss said trying her best to look sweet and innocent. The attempt was less than effective as Frieza strolled over to the children a stern look plastered on his face.

"It's already late out I don't expect you to be out all night understand you all still need to rest" Frieza stated staring at each of them in turn before halting at Raijin. "Raijin remember what I told you, try to keep them in line" Frieza demanded of the young Zamt who vigorously shook his head in acceptance. "Excellent other than that enjoy yourselves" Frieza stated waving the kids off who broke into massive grins before taking off, their trails of black, white and emerald Ki leaving a coiling path through the air.

"I bet you'd make a good dad" Aayla said as Frieza returned to her side.

"Hardly" Frieza scoffed at the notion. "Now then let's get going, I found the perfect restaurant before landing" Frieza stated as he rose into the air.

"Great I'm starving" Aayla replied following the Frost Demon's lead. The pair soared between the towering buildings taking in the view around them as they passed. While Langden was no longer the vibrant jungle it once was, the cityscape had its own charm that the pair couldn't help but enjoy. Looking ahead Aayla smiled at the ivory Frost Demon, part of her couldn't believe they were finally going out. While she had left him plenty of hints and clues as to what she wanted, a part of her couldn't help but think that perhaps he just wasn't interested in her. So when she finally picked up Frieza's internal debate about asking her out, her heart soared at the prospect.

Aayla's excitement was only matched by Frieza's nervousness, the Frost Prince was in completely unknown territory and was now essentially winging it. Taking a quick glance backwards Frieza took in the azure beauty following him. She was wearing her skin tight black leggings and was now wearing a simple red tunic with a low hanging collar. However it was its simplicity that helped accentuate Aayla's natural beauty to the point where her skin seemed to glow in the setting sun.

 _"Don't mess this up."_

Cooler's words were running through his head, what if he did mess this up, what if this whole evening ended up doing irrevocable damage to what the pair had? This had been a huge step outside of Frieza's comfort zone and every possibility was streaking through the Frost Prince's mind at lightning speed.

"I thought the point of us coming here was to relax" Aayla called out from beside Frieza. Frieza had been so enraptured in his own thoughts he hadn't noticed the Securan warrior pull up beside him.

"What do you mean?" Frieza asked attempting to keep his voice steady.

"I mean I can hear you in there hun" Aayla smirked as Frieza's eyes widened in shock. Using her Lakee to pull Frieza closer Aayla gave the Frost Demon a reassuring hug before whispering in his ear. "You're not going to mess anything up, don't listen to that sourpuss."

Taking a deep breath Frieza nodded as Aayla released the hug, she was right he needed to calm down. Just be himself that is what his mother always told him, those lessons still applied even after all these years. "Well we're here" Frieza stated as he took in his surroundings, lucky enough they were just about to pass the restaurant when Aayla decided to snap Frieza out of his stupor.

Both figures landed gracefully outside of the restaurant much to the shock of those they landed beside. The couple looked up at the marble building before them, it stood three stories tall and was a mesmerizing ivory colour that was not unlike Frieza's own skin. The windows were tinted to cut down on the amount of light coming in and there was an intricate floral display that lead all the way to the main entrance.

"Le Chic Pantalon?" Aayla muttered uncertainly, she had never eaten at any of these high class restaurants before. "Isn't this going to be incredibly expensive Frieza?" Aayla asked as they made their way through the vibrant garden.

"Undoubtedly" Frieza smirked as he held the door open for the Securan beauty, gesturing her inside with a mock bow.

Aayla might have found the act incredibly endearing if she wasn't actively trying to stifle her laughter. Frieza's mind was a storm of information, he was running through just about everything he had ever learned about women and his sources were coming from every direction you could think of. Aayla heard the words of his deceased mother that seemed to be primarily guiding the Frost Demon's actions. Mixed in there was advice from Tukkan, stories from Cooler, less than appropriate galactic database entries and just a general bedlam of information. Aayla could have sworn she caught a glimpse of King Cold but Frieza seemed to have shunted those thoughts away almost immediately.

As the pair made their way into the dimly lit restaurant Aayla took in her surroundings quickly, it was one of the many talents she had developed acting as Frieza's bodyguard. The room itself was surprisingly dark, no doubt to add to the atmosphere of the restaurant. The few glimpses she caught of patrons as they passed by revealed people wearing incredibly expensive looking dresses and suits, looking down she felt a surprising rush of self-scrutiny as she took in her own drab, in comparison, appearance. She couldn't help but feel that perhaps this wasn't the best place for them.

They were soon greeted by an elegant Volk in a black tuxedo. The teal skinned greeter bowed gracefully to Frieza before addressing him. "Good evening Lord Frieza, it is a great honour to be able to serve you tonight" the Volk stated, surprisingly calm for someone talking to Frieza.

"Excellent, then let us proceed" Frieza commanded as the Volk ushered him forward.

"I'm sorry miss but I'm afraid I can't let you in" the Volk stated causing Frieza to whip around to see the greeter barring entrance to a shocked Aayla.

"She is with me let her through" Frieza growled menacingly feeling his Ki spike in outrage.

"She is My Lord?" The Volk asked in surprise. Aayla spotted how he briefly looked her up and down a frown forming along his brow.

"Yes she is do you have a problem with that?" Frieza stated taking a few menacing steps forward. He could feel his power itching to release itself if this fool actually had the gall to deny Aayla.

"My sincerest apologies My Lord, it's just we have a policy against numerous races, Securans are among that list" the Volk bowed once more to Frieza who had the sudden urge to strangle the greeter where he stood. But his own thoughts of how to proceed were suddenly cut off by Aayla's shocked exclamation.

"You have a list of races you don't serve!?" Aayla's outrage was evident and Frieza could feel her own energy spike in anger. "Mind telling me what's wrong with my people" Aayla growled trying her best to keep her cool despite the urge to kick this prude into Langden's moon. With the right angle she knew she could pull it off.

"To be quite frank you're people are… well a bunch of whores and vagrants" the Volk stated matter-of-factly brushing the side of his expensive suit as he did so. It took all of Aayla's self-control not to punch a hole through the greeter's face where he stood. She had heard about how others had seen her people since the destruction of Secura at the hands of King Cold. The remainder of her people became wanderers going from system to system doing anything they could to survive. This usually meant using their natural beauty to perform less than reputable and downright demeaning jobs. The few Securans that were left were now looked down upon because of their new position in the galaxy.

A garbled choking sound brought Aayla out of her thoughts. It took all of a second for Aayla to discover the source of the sound, Frieza's tail was coiled firmly around the now kneeling Volk who was desperately clawing at the ivory appendage to no avail. Looking up Aayla saw Frieza's face was a mask of anger as he continued to choke the life out of the greeter, Aayla knew he could have ended the weakling in an instant but this time he was drawing it out on purpose. While a part of her, a larger one than she expected, told her to let him continue, Aayla knew better than that. The Volk was an ass, an insensitive, racist ass… but he didn't deserve to die for it. Walking over Aayla rested a calming hand on Frieza's shoulder and with a small squeeze got his attention.

The small nod she gave told Frieza everything he needed to know, she wanted him to let the disrespectful ingrate go. They gazed into each other's eyes until Frieza's will finally gave way and he loosened his grip on the Volk who fell to the ground in a heap gasping desperately for air. Bending down Frieza held up the panting Volk's head by his chin staring into the dull grey eyes of the greeter with his own piercing red gaze. "The only reason you are still alive and this building hasn't been reduced to a smouldering crater is because of that woman's kind heart" Frieza stated releasing his hold of the greeter as he got up and made his way to the door ushering Aayla out ahead of him. With one last menacing glance Frieza fired a Death Beam just a hair's breadth away from the Volk's face to emphasize his point.

Frieza quickly made his way through the intricate garden, Aayla had already made it to the street and was now waiting for him. She was absentmindedly twirling her Lakee in her slender hands as Frieza caught up with her. "I am so sorry if I had known that would happen I never would have suggested that place" Frieza apologized but Aayla just smiled at the Frost Prince.

"I know hun" she smiled as Frieza let out a long exhale of relief. "I'm just glad you didn't kill him is all" Aayla said as the pair began walking down the street together. The sun had now completely set and the lights from the various stores and lampposts now served to illuminate the still bustling streets.

"Well I had a feeling a cold blooded murder would put a sour note on the evening" Frieza replied, trying his best to keep his anger in check. The truth was he was still mad as hell about what had just transpired and still had the urge to turn around and hurl a quick Death Ball to erase that sorry excuse for a restaurant off the face of the planet.

"It probably would, don't suppose you have a plan b?" Aayla asked as they rounded another corner.

Frieza hung his head at the question "unfortunately no I don't have a plan b."

Aayla was silent for a few moments before an idea struck her that was just so crazy it just might work. "I think I have just the place for us" Aayla exclaimed excitedly. She had been thinking about going to it later by herself as it didn't seem like Frieza's environment, but with the Frost Demon's plans now obliterated he might just be receptive to it.

"Where?" Frieza asked wondering where Aayla could have possibly thought of.

"Oh you'll see, I think it's just about ten more blocks away" Aayla chuckled at the peaked interest of the Frost Demon.

Rather than fly to their destination the pair decided to continue walking, the night air was surprisingly cool and their walk was helping take both their minds off the debacle that transpired at Le Chic Pantalon. "Hey Frieza how do you think the others are doing?" Aayla asked as they crossed the street and ducked down a side alley.

"Well at this point I say it's fifty fifty on whether Tukkan has gotten Nadan killed" Frieza stated, he couldn't even imagine what the pair were up to. "If I had to take a guess about my brother and Shuyo, I would say they found that tournament they went to boring and decided to put on a real show for the attendees" Frieza continued as they made their way back onto the sidewalk. "As for Weiss, Raijin and Tyr they're… In a high-speed chase with the police!?" Frieza exclaimed as he looked at a nearby television screen mounted to a lamppost.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me it hasn't even been two hours" Aayla gaped at the ongoing newscast the television was displaying.

"If you're just now joining us, police are currently involved in a high-speed chase with a large number of the HFIL's Angels hoverbike gang and what appears to be three young children." The screen switched from the news caster to a live feed of the active chase, and there they were Weiss, Raijin and Tyr with about three dozen burly hoverbikers tailing them and firing a barrage of blaster fire from their weapons. "As you can see there has been significant blaster fire from the Angels but luckily casualties have been minimal with no confirmed fatalities as of yet. The chase itself seems to have gone on now for almost an hour with little to no headway being made to stop this rampage." The live feed shrunk down to a smaller square in the corner of the screen to once again revealing the news caster. "The three children appear to be, as of yet, unknown and no one has come forward to name them so we have very little information about them for the time being." The news caster was shuffling through notes on his desk before looking back to the camera. "We will be actively monitoring the chase as it proceeds but for now we have sports with Rogan Costas, until next time keep it classy Langden."

Frieza stood there in shock, deep down he knew the three would get into some kind of trouble but to start a full scale police chase and involve a biker gang in less than two hours was just too much. "I'm going to kill them" Frieza exclaimed as he searched for their energy signatures. Just as Frieza locked on to their position he felt Aayla wrap her arms around him from behind bringing him into another hug.

"Or, you could just let the kids be kids" Aayla said as she placed her head against Frieza's. "It's not like they're in any danger, hell Raijin on his own is more powerful than just about everyone on this planet." Aayla released her hold to circle around to face the Frost Demon "they won't be kids forever you know, let them enjoy it while they can."

Feeling his anger ebb away Frieza relented allowing the Securan's words sink in. She was right of course none of them were in any real danger. On top of that the whole point of this trip was to get the crew to have fun and enjoy themselves, which clearly the kids were doing. With a soft groan Frieza looked up at the smiling woman before him "very well, we'll let them have their fun."

"Awesome, and look we made it!" Aayla exclaimed pointing across the street. Frieza turned to face the direction she was pointing and was caught off guard by the sight.

"The Twisted Transistor?" Frieza read the name of the establishment from the sign above the door. While Frieza had never entered one himself in the past he knew what a bar was and one glance told him this one was definitely not on the high end side. The exterior had seen plenty of wear and tear with part of the neon sign above the door flickering sporadically.

"Cool right?" Aayla exclaimed grabbing Frieza by the hand and leading him across the road. They dodged in and out of the traffic before coming to a halt in front of an incredibly muscular Beppan bouncer.

"Welcome to the Twisted Transistor, behave yourselves in there and we won't have a problem" the bouncer announced before stepping to the side to allow the pair through. Upon entering Frieza could tell that the bar itself seemed to match descriptions of others from across the universe, dimly lit, pounding music and lots of people all of which had now turned to face the new arrivals.

"They're staring at us" Frieza muttered out of the side of his mouth as they proceeded further into the crowded bar. The pounding music seemed to dim and Frieza could just make out the hushed whispers passing through the crowd as they looked from one to the other. Suddenly every patron in the bar was on their feet and Frieza quickly found himself surrounded on all sides. At first Frieza thought they were actually trying to attack him that is until he noticed the broad smiles.

"It's actually Frieza!" One drunken bar goer cheered hefting his pint of amber liquid into the air.

"I must be hammered that can't really be him" another one said from the Frost Demon's left.

"You are hammered man but that's actually him!" his friend called out from beside him.

"You know I thought he'd be taller" a woman from his right mentioned to her friends.

"Can't believe it Lord Frieza in my bar" the bartender behind the counter grinned from ear to ear as he hopped over to greet the newcomers. He was an elderly man with faded red skin and a full grey beard. Making his way through the crowd he came to face the Frost Demon and with a big jovial smile pressed a full pitcher into the stunned tyrant's hands. "Drinks are on me for tonight my boy" he chuckled at the perplexed look Frieza was giving him. "Don't worry about the cost, you and your crew saved our hides think nothing of it."

Before Frieza could even respond to the elderly barkeep he clapped him on the back and turned back to his counter with a small spring in his, otherwise elderly, step. "What the hell is going on?" Frieza muttered as the patrons of the bar continued to mill around the pair.

"What's going on he says!" One of the revellers exclaimed. "You saved everyone on this planet from those pirates! How could we not celebrate you guys being here" The man shouted before taking another swig from his glass.

Aayla couldn't contain her laughter and burst out in hysterics. "See isn't this better than that stuffy restaurant?" Aayla asked as she grabbed the glass in Frieza's hand and downed half its contents in one swig.

"I suppose… Wait that was mine!" Frieza exclaimed at the beaming Securan. Another glass was shoved into his hands almost immediately by the patrons who were still bustling about the pair.

"So what brings you two to this hole?" A tall man with navy blue eyes inquired from a stool at the bar itself. The question earned him a smack to the back of the head from the elderly barkeep.

"You keep that hole talk to yourself Regg, but yeah what brings you here anyway?" The barkeep asked filling yet another pint and sliding it across the bar's surface.

"We're actually on a date, we were going to eat at Le Chic Pantalon but they turned out to be a bunch of insufferable asses" Aayla said before finishing the rest of her drink.

"Those stuck up snobs wouldn't know a good time of it snuck up and bit them in the rears" a Malakan with bright purple hair spoke up from a booth along the wall.

"You got that right… Hey I know lets show them a real good time" the barkeep said slamming his hand on his counter to the nods and shouts of approval from his guests. "Alright time for a party, Langden style!" The elderly man's cheer was quickly joined by the rest of the patrons and both Frieza and Aayla soon found themselves being ushered forward.

It didn't take the pair long to stop wondering just what a Langden style party was, as after their fourth straight drink both Aayla and Frieza stopped caring and joined full force in the celebrations. Frieza couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun. Amidst drunken arm wrestling, drinking contests, Frieza's laughable attempt at karaoke and a myriad of other ludicrous activities Frieza realised that he may have been the one who needed time away from the ship the most. Aayla stuck by the Frost Demon's side every step of the way and while yes she was somewhat disappointed their romantic evening wasn't as private as she originally hoped, she was able to push that small gripe to the side as she watched Frieza engage with the rest of the bar.

"Alright that makes thirty-eight straight wins for Frieza and a whopping zero for you sorry lot" the elderly barkeep called out, who they had learned was named Swearengen but most just called him Swear… or Old Man. Swear had been officiating the drunken arm wrestling with Frieza sitting smugly as the undisputed champ.

"Oh come on Old Man, that's Frieza we're talking about no way we can win" one of the party goers whined, rubbing his now swollen wrist.

Downing the rest of her drink Aayla stepped forward, both arms raised triumphantly into the air. "Move aside boys a new challenger approaches!" Aayla called out to the raucous cheers of the crowd around her.

"Finally a worthy adversary" Frieza commented doing his best to hide his increasingly slurred speech with minimal success.

"You bet your ass frosty" Aayla jeered playfully as she planted herself in the chair opposite of the Undisputed Drunken Arm Wrestling Champion of the Twisted Transistor. The rounds of cheers grew even more deafening at Aayla's line as they prepared for the match of the century.

Both combatants locked hands and slammed their elbows down cracking the wooden surface of the table as they grinned at each other. "You're going down my dear" Frieza smirked at the Azure Beauty's confident smile.

"You take me down?" Aayla asked as she leant in closer and licked her lips seductively. "I would love to see you try" she finished with a wink, smirking at the Frost Demon's ever reddening cheeks.

"Ready? And three… two… one… BEGIN!" Swear shouted and the battle was on. The initial force both combatants exerted created a pressure wave strong enough to knock the closest revelers off their feet with the rest clamouring over them to get a better view of the action. Both Aayla and Frieza's teeth were barred as they tried to gain the advantage over the other. They seemed to be dead even, neither one able to gain an advantage over the other. Just as Frieza's arm began to dip down he would put in a burst of force to push it back into position. It wasn't long until both of their auras were ignited deep purple mixing with bright crimson. The viewers around them couldn't believe what they were seeing as both titans fought for dominance over the other.

The battle stretched on for close to five minutes with both Aayla and Frieza having their moments to shine gaining the advantage over the other. But as time dragged on Aayla felt her own strength starting to wane, not by much but she knew this match was going to be over in three minutes tops unless something… drastic… was done.

Carefully controlling her strength Aayla let Frieza push her downwards bringing both their wrists closer to the, somehow still intact, table surface. This left Aayla with an unobstructed view of Frieza in all his chiseled ivory glory and vice versa. Leaning forward Aayla smirked at the Frost Demon's eager expression, he thought he had this match but he was so wrong. "Looks like you got me hun" Aayla purred catching Frieza's attention.

"You might as well give in it's almost o…" Frieza trailed off as his eyes caught sight of Aayla's two secret weapons. Aayla grinned triumphantly as she watched Frieza's cheeks redden suddenly. Aayla's tunic normally covered her up quite well, that is until she leant over in which case anyone lucky enough got a stunning view of the Azure Beauty's cleavage. Just as Frieza attempted to compose himself from the sudden exposure Aayla felt a small shift in the Frost Demon's grasp, it had slackened. With a triumphant shout Aayla poured all her strength into one final push slamming Frieza's hand down into the wooden table, which shattered like glass from the impact.

The entire bar erupted in celebration as Aayla stood triumphantly on another table with her arms in the air. "And the new Undisputed Drunken Arm Wrestling Champion is Aayla Talon!" Swear shouted over the roaring crowd. Hopping up on another table the old barkeep handed Aayla yet another massive pitcher. "Your celebratory drink sweetheart" Swear bowed before hopping off his own table. Aayla chugged the entire pitcher of burning liquid in one go much to the crowds tremendous approval.

Floating up to meet the victor face to face Frieza glared at the cheerful Securan as she tossed the pitcher over to Swear on the other side of the bar. "That was a dirty trick and I-MMMMMM!" Frieza was taken completely off guard as Aayla whipped her Lakee around his waist pulling him into her waiting arms and connected her lips with his own. At first Frieza tried fighting it off, however that lasted all of two seconds before Frieza reciprocated the action, much to the cheers of the crowd gathered around them.

As they broke apart Aayla grinned at the still blushing Frost Demon. "You don't know how long I've wanted to do that" Aayla smiled as she laid her arms down on either side of Frieza's head.

"Don't I?" Frieza smirked as he tapped the side of his head smugly. "Now look who forgets we're connected" Frieza grinned before pulling the Azure Beauty into another passionate kiss. Looking back on it Frieza decided that a night on the town was exactly what he needed.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Well here we are folks the much awaited date has arrived sorry if I kept you waiting. This chapter was surprisingly fun to write and I'm quite happy with the results, next chapter will be focusing on what Cooler and the rest of the crew got up to while Frieza and Aayla had their night out.**

 **I wanted to use this chapter as a stepping stone to show the Frieza's growth into outright tyrannical monster to loveable anti-hero. Obviously Frieza doesn't really care what people think of him (save for a certain someone) but the opinion of the general public is a good indicator to show how people see him.**

 **Aayla finally got what she wanted and now that Frieza-Senpai is hers no one will take him from her… NO ONE! But seriously writing their contest was a lot of fun just like the rest of the chapter. Also yes I was kinda horrible to Aayla at the restaurant… I got to work on that I know.**

 **Also the references… I think I might have gone a tad overboard with them especially some of the less than obvious and obscure ones, but hey once they popped in my head I couldn't not use them.**

 **Not much else to say as this chapter was fairly straight forward but as always if you guys want to talk or have questions or even want to submit some ideas for the story I'm all ears.**

 **Until next time everyone**


	21. Chapter 21 - Kids Just Want To Have Fun

"Yang you should probably stay inside, ok?" Weiss asked the brilliant yellow bird she was gently patting. Tilting her head to the side and giving an affirmatory chirp Yang took to the air leaving her caretaker and friend behind to go explore the metal structure that had become her home. With a quick glance Yang looked back just in time to catch Weiss' tail brush against Tyr's own. With an agitated chirp Yang continued her flight pushing thoughts of the scaly interloper out of her mind, she had other matters to focus on.

Over the last few days she had made it her goal to learn every inch of the ship that she now called home. On one of these early morning searches she caught the scent of… it. Just one whiff was all she needed to know that she needed it. So over the last few days Yang searched, planned and waited for her moment. Now that the rest of the crew, but most importantly the grumpy blue haired one was gone the vibrant bird could now put her plan into action.

Yang quickly made her way to the bridge staying aloft just in front of the door until the sensors detected her and granted her entry. Many of the rooms across the ship were locked and couldn't be opened without a special card, one that Yang knew the blue haired one carried with him at all times. One of these locked rooms held her prize, luckily there was more than one way to unlock them.

Flying over to Nadan's work area, Yang spotted her target. It was a console that the blue haired one frequently worked from and gave him full access to the entire confines of the ship. Through hours of diligent study Yang developed a vague understanding of which buttons did what. Touching down on the console Yang quickly made her way over to one of the larger buttons with a strange symbol on it. One downward peck later and the entire device had come alive.

It took several minutes of trial and error, pecking at various buttons and combinations she had remembered seeing while roosted on the scientist's head. Yang's persistence was rewarded though as eventually one of the screens shifted to a live feed of a locked door. Unfortunately it was impossible to determine if this door held what she sought so instead she pecked down on the button she knew would unlock the door remotely.

The green blip indicated it had been successful but Yang had no way of knowing if this was the room she sought. To remedy this obstacle Yang turned her head to the side and hit a different button, this one shaped like an arrow, off to her side. The viewscreen shifted to a new door which was also locked, turning her head back to the right she pecked the unlocking button and chirped happily as she saw that door unlock as well. The crafty bird would continue this process until she had come full circle and was back to the first door she had unlocked several minutes ago.

Chirping eagerly Yang took to the air and left the bridge as fast as she could. As she flew through the corridors of the ship her thoughts were drawn to her prize, it would soon be hers and nothing was going to get in her way.

* * *

"It's over Weiss you can't stop me, I guess you just weren't strong enough to beat me" Raijin jeered from across the room triumphantly.

"It's not over yet four eyes, if you think I'm done then come at me!" Weiss called back defiantly. She was completely out of options, she had one hope left otherwise Raijin would steamroll her with ease. But if there was one thing Frieza had taught her, it was that when a fighter was cornered they were at their most dangerous.

"Ugh you guys are such nerds" Tyr whined from the middle of the viewing stands. They had entered the arcade about an hour ago and both Raijin and Weiss had made an immediate beeline to the Galactic Champions card game arena. Tyr knew Raijin was a huge fan of the game, he had been for years, but Tyr was completely blown away when Weiss whipped out her deck from her handbag and challenged Raijin. The two were on their final game, Raijin had claimed the first game with ease while Weiss took the second by the skin of her teeth. All the while Tyr sat and watched from the stands doing his best to pay attention to the complicated game.

"I prefer the term intellectual" Raijin stated as he crossed his arms. Looking back over to Weiss he smiled smugly, with her last champion now defeated she was wide open for the final direct attack that would end the game. "Sorry Weiss but this is my game and you are done, go my Saiyan Berserker attack Weiss directly with Oozaru Blitz!" Upon the young Zamt's command the hologram of a burly armoured Saiyan rushed forward transforming into a Great Ape as he did so.

"Sorry to disappoint you Rai but you just activated my trap card!" Weiss called out triumphantly as she turned over her only facedown card. It was time to unleash her ace in the hole.

"No way there's nothing that can save you, my Saiyan Berserker is unaffected by traps when he declares an attack!" Raijin called out in disbelief.

"But my trap isn't stopping your champion, it's calling in some support" Weiss smiled as a blinding light filled the arena. "Since you destroyed three of my champions this turn I can activate Emergency Signal Ginyu Tokusentai!" Weiss exclaimed triumphantly.

"No way! You let me destroy your champions on purpose?!" Raijin exclaimed in disbelief.

"You got it, it was my only hope and you are going to pay for destroying Appule, Zarbon and Dodoria" Weiss' eyes narrowed towards her Zamt opponent. As if on cue the light faded away and standing in its place were five new armoured champions. "Let me introduce you to my new friends The Ginyu Force!" Just as Weiss declared their name each member of the now defunct Ginyu Force settled into a coordinated pose bringing the attacking Great Ape to a halt.

"Impressive Weiss but you forget my Saiyan Berserker has a power level of three hundred thousand, and can attack every champion on your side of the field" Raijin called back smirking. The strongest of Weiss' new champions was Captain Ginyu himself but with a power level of only one hundred and twenty thousand even he was no match for Raijin's ace.

"Then come and attack if you got the guts" Weiss retorted with a confident smirk.

"You got it! Saiyan Berserker continue with your attack, wipe them all out!" Raijin commanded to which the hologram immediately obeyed.

"Alright boys let show him what we got! I activate the effect of Guldo! When an opponent's champion declares an attack I can use his effect to permanently stop that champion at the cost of not being able to change Guldo's battle position." Upon her declaration the stout green Bas stepped forward and with a high pitched cry halted the approaching Oozaru with his telekinetic hold.

"Grr, a minor setback this game's still mine" Raijin declared irritably, he had been so close only to have victory snatched away by someone even shorter than himself. Taking the last card in his hand he set it down quickly before crossing his arms once more "your move Ice Queen."

"Thanks Rai time to end this" Weiss smirked as she drew another card from her deck. "Time to give my boys something to do, I activate the effect of the illustrious Captain Ginyu!" Weiss exclaimed. "At the mere cost of one of my other champions Ginyu will use his body swap ability, sorry Guldo" Weiss apologized as Guldo vanished with a flash, a brief look of panic passed over the holographic Bas' face before disappearing.

Stepping forward the holographic Ginyu spread both arms wide facing the Saiyan Berseker. "Change now!" Ginyu shouted as a beam of bright orange energy streaked from his mouth to the Saiyan's. When the smoke finally cleared both champions had switched positions on the field, Ginyu's body was now on Raijin's side looking around in confusion while the Saiyan Berserker now stood dancing on Weiss'.

"If that's how you want to play, then I'm calling for backup as well!" Raijin snarled slamming his hand down on his own console. "I activate Intergalactic Warp Zone! With this card I can call forth as many champions as I want as long as my forces don't exceed yours in numbers! So come on out Crodan Hivelord and Konatsian Legend!" At his call two portals opened up from the ground, out of the first one stepped a Konatsian garbed in a brown tunic with pale skin and a mohawk of fiery red hair. On his back he bore a sheathed sword and an ocarina hung from his waist. Out of the second emerged a hulking Crodan, his armoured carapace a dark brown and his eyes were a deep purple in colour, apart from the difference in colouration he looked eerily similar to Seluba. As both new arrivals settled into position, a holographic sixty thousand appeared over both their heads to indicate their power levels.

"Not bad four eyes, but you're going to need more than that to beat the Ginyu Force!" Weiss exclaimed excitedly. "I activate Jeice's effect next, once per turn I can have him transfer his power over to another member of the Ginyu Force, I think Burter could use a boost don't you?" Weiss asked cheekily as her tail swished from side to side. The holographic form of Jeice walked over to the towering blue figure and placed a hand on his teammates shoulder. The transfer of strength was instant and Jeice's power dropped to zero while Burter's doubled to ninety thousand.

"Nice try but did you forget my Deckmaster Weiss? I activate the effect of my Namekian Shaman, by giving up my life energy I can transfer that amount to the power levels of all my champions!" Raijin declared and as he did the robed Namekian at his side stuck his hand out transferring forty thousand points to his champions. This would bring both his Crodan Hivelord and Konatsian Legend to one hundred thousand each with the body swapped Saiyan Berserker rising to one hundred and sixty thousand.

"Impressive, but I didn't forget about your Deckmaster, but it looks like you forgot about mine" Weiss smiled as she pointed to her left. Sitting in his old floating chair sat a smug looking Frieza in his first form eyeing the battlefield intently. "I think it's time I use his effect as well, by cutting my life energy in half I can do the same to your champions. Go Frieza! Use intimidating presence!" Upon the young Frost Demoness' declaration Frieza glared down at Raijin's assembled forces that quivered in fear at the Frost Tyrant. Just as she had said each one of the Zamt's champions had their power level cut in half.

"Sorry Rai but this game's over, I'll use Recoome to attack your Crodan Hivelord first!" Weiss declared as Recoome crouched into a fighting position getting ready to launch his attack.

"That's crazy they have the same power level nothing will come of the battle" Raijin argued only to be shut down with a wag from the Frost Demoness' finger.

"Wrong again Rai, see if Recoome battles and opponent's champion and they're still around at the end of the battle they get returned to their owner's hand" Weiss's grin widened at the shocked look on the Zamt's face. "Now go Recoom attack his Hivelord with your Recoome Eraser Gun!" Weiss commanded of the muscular warrior.

"The name's Recoome, it rhymes with doom, and you're gonna be hurting all too soon!" The holographic Recoome declared striking a pose with his hip off to the side and his hands in the air. Then with a mighty inhale Recoome opened his mouth wide unleashing a destructive wave of Ki that slammed into the bulky Crodan who only just managed to block the incoming blast of energy with his massive arms. The explosion that followed kicked a large amount of dirt and debris into the air, when it finally cleared the Crodan Hivelord was still there but quickly disappeared through the portal it had arrived through as Recoome's effect kicked in. "I really am a man of many many talents" the orange haired mercenary proclaimed smugly as he scratched his nose.

"One down" Weiss smirked at the disgruntled look on Raijin's face. "Burter you're up next, attack his Konatsian Legend with your Mach Kicks!" Weiss declared and watched in smug satisfaction as the blue mercenary disappeared only to reappear just behind the Konatsian Legend before delivering a barrage of kicks at blinding speed the Konatsian Legend did his best to defend himself but was quickly overtaken and slammed into the ground, fading away as Burter touched back down on Weiss' field.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, what chance did you really have against the fastest in the universe?" Burter smirked flashing Jeice a thumbs up from his position.

"Did I forget to mention Burter's effect?" Weiss asked in mock innocence.

"Yeah you did, what does he do?" Raijin bristled at how quickly this battle had turned.

"Well as the fastest in the universe he gets to attack two times per turn" Weiss smiled holding up two fingers to emphasize her point. "Burter be a dear and take out his Saiyan Berserker" Weiss watched as Burter crouched down and took off in a blinding flash of blue light appearing just overhead of the body swapped Saiyan. The Berserker did his best to defend however he too was quickly overwhelmed and faded away as Burter did a victory lap around the battle field.

"Now that you're wide open it looks like it's all over, Captain Ginyu attack Raijin directly with Milky Cannon and end this!" Weiss shouted watching with excitement as the body swapped Ginyu thrust his hand forward unleashing an enormous ball of purple Ki that streaked across the battlefield.

Looking down helplessly Raijin shut his eyes as the blast connected with his podium violently shaking it back and forth. When the young Zamt finally opened his eyes the first thing he saw was his life energy at zero, he had lost the game, to Weiss of all people. The second thing he saw was the smiling Frost Demoness herself who had made her way over and was now sitting atop his console.

"Great game Rai, we should do this more often" Weiss continued to smile as Raijin stuck out his hand, to which the young Demoness eagerly shook it.

"Is it over? can we please go do something fun now?" Tyr whined walking over to the pair of battlers.

"Fine dolt, what did you have in mind?" Weiss asked as she slipped her deck back into her handbag for safekeeping.

"Well for starters I think we should…" Tyr trailed off, being interrupted by an incredibly loud gurgling sound coming from the young Dramon's stomach. "Uhh can we take like a ten minute detour to grab a bite to eat? I guess I'm hungry" Tyr chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sure I guess, I could go for a bite as well" Raijin sighed, stepping down from the arena platform. He looked over to Weiss, who was descending far more gracefully "hey Weiss you have the credit chip right?"

"Of course" Weiss replied patting her bag to indicate the chip's location.

With a quick nod the trio headed out leaving the arcade behind and began strolling down the side of the street with Tyr leading the way. The great thing about city planets like Langden was that there was never a shortage of stores and restaurants to choose from as almost every location they passed tried to entice them inside with the wide variety of products in the display windows.

The restaurants themselves were so plentiful and varied that it was actually quite difficult to choose which one to go to. It didn't help matters that the streets were still pretty packed with people who would end up obscuring their vision of many of their possibilities.

"Why are we walking, we could cover way more ground if we flew" Tyr moaned as he sidestepped yet another oncoming bystander.

"Frieza said keep a low profile" Raijin muttered as he ducked his head to avoid a passing person's outstretched arm. "But maybe it couldn't hurt to get some air" the young Zamt said dodging another person who didn't seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention to his surroundings.

"Agreed let's get some elevation – OW!" Weiss cried out as a burly man in a thick leather jacket walked into the young Frost Demoness nearly knocking her to the ground. "Hey watch where you're going jerk!" Weiss called out to the man who had already vanished in the churning crowd. "Let's get out of here" Weiss mumbled as she took to the air much to the surprise of many of the people along the sidewalks and in the buildings themselves.

"Hey you ok?" Tyr asked as he and Raijin joined the disgruntled Frost Demoness in the air.

"I'm fine just these idiots need to watch where they're going" Weiss grumbled. After a few moments Weiss sighed pushing what just happed out of her mind, they were supposed to be having fun, after all that had been the whole point of this trip. "Come on guys lets go find us a place to eat" Weiss said as she composed herself once more. The trio took off and it didn't take long before they came to a restaurant with a bright red sign, it was in a language none of them recognized, however the enticing aromas wafting from the restaurant quickly drew them in.

"This place smells awesome!" Tyr exclaimed, his scaly tail whipping from left to right in excitement. The trio quickly made their way inside. Just as they entered the front doors they were immediately greeted by a cheerful looking Securan. "Welcome to the Bedlam Steakhouse, my name's Laseema and I'll be your waitress this evening" the slender woman said to the kids who stared back in shock. They hadn't actually met another Securan apart from Aayla. This one was completely different from the woman who had quickly grown to be the matriarch of their crew.

Laseema was slightly taller than Aayla and her frame was far less muscular than the Azure Beauty. The most striking difference however was her skin colour, it was a magnificent shade of emerald. She wore a black and red pant suit with the logo of the restaurant emblazoned on the left side and wore high heels which gave the already towering woman a boost to her already substantial height.

Weiss was the first to snap out of shock of seeing a surviving member of the Securans. "Yes sorry about that, thank you very much" Weiss finally replied with a curt bow. She had not expected to ever meet another member of Aayla's race as Frieza had informed her of Secura's destruction at the hands of King Cold.

"No need to bow sweetheart, just follow me I'll take you to an open table, or would you prefer a booth?" Laseema inquired turning back to face the three kids.

"Oh oh oh a booth, let's get a booth!" Tyr exclaimed excitedly from behind Raijin.

"Ok there's one available just over here" Laseema laughed at the child's exuberance and led them over to the rightmost wall of the restaurant which was lined with a series of comfortable looking booths. The kids took this time to examine the restaurant itself, it had an interesting style to it. The tables and chairs were all made from actual wood and much of the décor had a rustic feel looking to incorporate Langden's more natural history. An entire wall had been carved to look like the trunk of a massive tree and the tiles used in the floor itself looked more like actual stones than anything else. It was a different idea and was in stark contrast to the cold mechanical feel the rest of the planet put off.

"This place is so cool" Tyr cooed looking around in all directions trying to see every part of the restaurant.

"It's definitely a one of a kind restaurant, Mr. Bedlam was adamant that he give the establishment a more homely feel" Laseema replied. "So can I start you off with something to drink?" she inquired as she set down the menus for the kids to look through.

Upon opening the menu Weiss was relieved to find it was written in galactic standard and that the prices were fairly reasonable. Frieza hadn't set a limit to what she could spend but she still didn't want to blow too much in a single night. After the three kids ordered their drinks Laseema thanked them and walked away leaving them time to look over the menus.

"This all looks so good" Tyr said a huge smile growing on his face. Weiss and Raijin shared a quick glance knowing exactly what that meant. Tyr already had a voracious appetite, if he was already this excited by just the pictures of the food then this was going to end up being an expensive evening after all.

Hearing a commotion from across the restaurant Weiss turned to see the source of the noise. Sitting in a group was an assorted bunch of people in varying degrees of cleanliness. They all had one thing in common though, they all wore the same style of leather jacket with the words HFIL'S ANGELS emblazoned across the back. It wasn't their raucous behaviour that drew the Frost Demoness' attention, it was the man in the center. He was the same burly man who had bumped into her from earlier.

And so began the debate of how to proceed, on the one hand Frieza would have put the burly drunk in his place. On the other hand however Aayla would have told her to let it go, after a few moments of thought Weiss breathed outwards choosing to let it go. The idiot had bumped into her on accident there was no need to make a scene.

Laseema was quick to rejoin them with their drinks in hand. "So have you decided what you're going to be having tonight?" She asked cheerily, handing Raijin his water as she did so.

Weiss and Raijin placed their orders with the delightful Securan who scribbled on a small notepad getting the details for each dish just the way they wanted. When it became Tyr's turn to order he was still staring intently at the menu a crease crossing over his forehead.

"So dear have you decided what you're going to be having?" She asked the Dramon youth who gently laid down his menu. After another moment of silent contemplation Tyr finally raised his head to stare at the patient Securan.

"I'll have one of everything please" Tyr stated.

Weiss immediately shoved her face in her palms in embarrassment and Raijin spit out the water he was sipping in shock. The poor waitress could only stare back at the smiling Dramon in disbelief. "One of everything?" She repeated to which Tyr merely nodded his approval. "But we have over thirty dishes" Laseema said still trying to grasp the situation.

"Trust me the dolt can eat them all" Weiss moaned from her hands. "Don't worry about the cost we can cover it" Weiss said as she tried to compose herself.

Laseema could only nod in astonishment as she jotted down the young boy's order. "A-alright then, one Chimeran flank steak and a Trivium melon salad for you sweetheart" Laseema read back nodding to Weiss who returned the gesture. "One Delish stir-fry with a side of assorted peppers, and a refill on that water for you" Laseema stated pointing to Raijin's now empty glass. "And lastly one of… Everything for you dear" Laseema said to which Tyr nodded happily. The emerald Securan quickly made her way across the room shaking her head in disbelief at the order she now had to deliver.

"I can't believe you dolt!" Weiss hissed at Tyr who looked taken aback by the sudden hostility.

"What?" Tyr asked in clear confusion.

"Everything on the menu is kinda excessive don't you think?" Raijin asked timidly from across the table.

"But I'm hungry and I'm pretty sure one of everything will fill me up, plus did you look at what they had on the menu? How could I not try everything?" Tyr shrugged at his friends not seeing what the big deal was.

"Unbelievable" Weiss muttered as she shook her head.

Laseema was back in no time with dishes for the trio placing each one in front of them. "I'll have the chef make the next dish when you're done with this one dear" Laseema said as she placed a steaming fillet mignon with a side of strange potatoes that were purple in colour.

"It'd probably be better if you just keep it coming" Tyr replied cheerily as he took the first bite of his meal, taking a chunk out of half the slab of meat in one go.

Laseema's eyes widened in shock as the Dramon youth devoured the steak in two more bites and followed that by shoveling the potatoes into his mouth at an incredible speed. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the others, Weiss had once again buried her head in her hands in embarrassment while Raijin looked at his closest friend with a look of mild disgust on his face. They had known each other their entire lives but he still couldn't get over Tyr's appalling eating habits.

Without another word Laseema hurried away to tell the kitchen to start churning out the dishes as fast as they could. She sighed deeply knowing she was in for quite a long night.

Weiss and Raijin had finished their own dishes fairly quickly, but both were more than satisfied with what they ordered as they both felt stuffed. Tyr on the other hand was an unstoppable garbage disposal shoveling food into his face at a sickening rate. When he thought no one was looking he would spear a piece of meat on the edge of his tail while he attacked the rest of the dish with his fork and the one he had grabbed from Raijin when he had finished his own meal.

Laseema was having the night from hell, not only was she running back and forth between the kitchen grabbing fresh dishes for Tyr but she also had to deal with the party of HFIL's Angels that were getting increasingly rowdy in their drunken state. All the while Weiss watched from her table as the group of bikers became increasingly belligerent with the overloaded waitress. Weiss almost jumped to her feet when one of them grabbed poor Laseema's butt as she bent over to reach across the table. The thought of Frieza telling them to behave themselves though put a halt on her plans and she tore her gaze away from the site in a huff. "I'm giving her an enormous tip when this is over" Weiss mumbled just as a deafening belch rang through the restaurant bringing every eye in the establishment to their booth.

"Man that was awesome!" Tyr exclaimed as he pat his belly and picked at his teeth with his clawed hand.

"Un-Freaking-Believable" Weiss hissed in embarrassment, just as the flustered Securan returned to the table.

"That was the last of it dear, how was it?" She asked trying her best to calm her nerves.

"It was great! We got to come here again!" Tyr cheered leaning back. "Hey, can I see the dessert menu?" Tyr asked only to shake his head at the horrified look on Laseema's face. "I'm kidding don't worry I'm pretty full" he said as the colour returned back to the Securan waitress.

"Ok, I'll get the bill ready then, is it separate or all in one?" She asked the group who all looked to Weiss.

"All on one bill please, thank you" Weiss replied as she unzipped her bag and began searching for the credit chip. Just as Laseema began making her way over to the register to ring up their order Weiss felt her heart plummet as she began searching her bag more and more frantically. "Where is it, where is it, where is it?!" Weiss hissed as she turned her bag over letting contents spill out on the table.

"What's wrong Weiss?" Tyr asked concern etched over the Dramon's face.

"It's not here!" Weiss exclaimed doing her best to keep her voice low.

"What isn't?" Raijin inquired looking over the mess that had spilled out the young Demoness' bag.

"The credit chip! I know I had it when we left!" Weiss stated in horror. It was gone and she had no way of knowing where it was. She could almost imagine the look Frieza and Aayla were going to give her, she had convinced them she was responsible enough to have access to the financial accounts and now she had lost the credit chip. Not only that but it was a credit chip to one of the largest accounts in the known universe.

"So how are we going to pay for the meal" Raijin asked a hint of worry spreading through his voice.

"We have no choice we need to call Frieza, Aayla, Cooler or Nadan, they're the other ones with the chips" Weiss mumbled, first Tyr had to go ahead and eat like a barbarian and now this! This night just kept getting worse and worse for the disgruntled Demoness.

A chorus of drunken cheers and obscenities rang out from across the room drawing Weiss' attention to the bikers. The one that had bumped into her earlier was now standing in front of his comrades, bowing to them as he brandished a credit chip to them. Weiss' blood ran cold as she focused on the chip in the man's hand. It was emblazoned with the insignia of the Cold Empire and the case was completely ivory in colour.

Standing up Weiss made her way across the room doing her best to keep her Ki under control. That oafish biker trash had swiped the chip from her bag and used the ruse of pumping into her to cover the steal. Weiss could feel Tyr right behind her trying to get her attention and she could sense Raijin was still at the booth conversing with Laseema who looked over at the two kids with a worried expression.

Weiss planted her foot down as she came up to the table shaking almost the entire building with her growing rage. "Oy what do you want ya dumb bird!" the burly biker piped up glaring at the infuriated Demoness before him.

"You took my credit chip, give it back, now" Weiss demanded, her hands curling into fists as they did so.

"Sure I'll give it back but how about you give me and me mates here a little dance first" he chortled as his drunken friends around him burst out laughing.

Before Weiss could even think of how to respond however, Tyr appeared just in front of the laughing drunk who had no time to even register the Dramon's fist before it was slamming into his puffed out cheeks. The blow wasn't full power but it was strong enough to send the burly man sailing through the air and slam into the wall on other side of the room opening a massive hole in it. Everyone looked at the enraged Dramon who caught the falling credit chip before handing it over to Weiss with a smile.

"Sorry about that but he deserved it for what he said to you and what he's been putting Laseema through" Tyr stated before waltzing back to their booth ignoring the rest of the gang who were busy frantically tapping out messages on their communicators. After a brief moment of admiration Weiss followed suit arriving just as Laseema turned to them.

With a rush of embarrassment Weiss immediately bowed her head to Lassema as the events that had just transpired began to sink in. "I'm so sorry for everything Laseema we didn't mean for any of this to happen, I'll cover the damages and get out of your hair" Weiss stated hanging her head in shame at all the trouble they had caused the poor waitress.

"Don't worry about the damages, we'll just blame the bikers and make them pay for it" Laseema replied as she knelt down and hugged the young Frost Demoness. "Also I don't have hair" Laseema laughed as she separated from the Demoness.

"Really, you don't want me to cover the damages? Because I can do it!" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"You bet sweetheart, but you still have to pay for the meal" Laseema said smiling warmly as she held out the chip reader.

Weiss was quick on the draw immediately placing the newly recovered chip in front of the reader which beeped twice before Laseema handed it to her to finalize putting the order through. Once Weiss accepted the charge, which was exceedingly high thanks to Tyr's bottomless hole he called a stomach, the machine then asked if she would like to provide a tip. With a small smile Weiss began punching in numbers until she found the amount she felt was appropriate for the situation, she was probably going to get a scolding from Frieza but it was worth it this time around.

As Weiss handed the machine back to Laseema her jaw almost hit the floor as she took in the amount displayed on the screen. "Sweetheart I said you didn't have to pay for the damages" the Securan waitress said as she tried to hand the device back to Weiss to reverse the transaction.

"Oh that's not for the damages" Weiss said happily pushing the device back to Laseema who picked it up gingerly with both hands.

"It's not?" she asked looking at the number displayed.

"Nope, that's your tip" Weiss responded with a smile that almost brought the Securan waitress to tears.

Laseema fell to her knees in shock and pulled the three kids into a huge hug. Life had been exceedingly hard for her since the destruction of Secura but with what the kids had just given her she could really get her life back on track. "Thank you so much" she cried happily into their shoulders.

"Don't mention it, it's the least we could do Weiss replied breaking the hug and smiling warmly at the shaken waitress. They quickly said their goodbyes, with Tyr running into the kitchen to tell the entire cooking staff that they did an amazing job.

Tyr led the way out of the restaurant hands behind his head and his spirits high as he enjoyed the feeling of a full belly. "You know all things considered I think that went… well…" Tyr trailed off as the others joined him outside and came face to face with what had cut off young Dramon's thoughts. They were now surrounded on all sides by over three dozen angry looking bikers, all of them sporting the same leather jacket as the ones inside.

Craning his neck upwards to get a better view of the congregation of irate looking thugs, Raijin ended up being the first to speak. "Can we help you?" he asked worriedly as a murmur ran through the gathered crowd.

"As a matter of fact you can" a portly Brench stepped forward, on his arm was a blaster cannon, the kind that most of the Frieza Force had once been outfitted with. "I hear you brats roughed up one of my boys in there, but more importantly you have a credit chip with a… substantial amount on it" the Brench thug chuckled as he stared down the trio a treacherous glint in his eye.

"Yeah and what are you losers going to do about it?" Tyr piped up taking a step forward, the scales along his tail bristling in agitation.

"Me and the boys here are gonna ask politely that you give us the chip, otherwise we might have to get… violent" the Brench chuckled as he rubbed a scar that ran along the side of his jaw.

From his position Raijin could already see that Weiss' tail had completely stiffened and the muscles in her legs were tensing, she was ready to spring forward at any moment. Tyr was no better his scales were slowly emerging from his skin covering his arms and legs, if Raijin could see the young boy's face he would have seen that the scales had also started to form around his eyes. A fight was about to break out at any moment and Raijin knew it, that was when Frieza's words from earlier ran through his head.

 _"I expect you to be the responsible one, keep them in line."_

Reaching out Raijin grasped both his agitated friends' shoulders trying his best to pull them back. "Come on guys let's get out of here, Frieza told us not to start any trouble" he implored hoping his friends would listen to him.

Upon hearing Raijin's words the tension in Weiss' muscles slackened as she took a deep breath. Raijin was right, they were here to have a good time not start up a fight. "You're right Rai, come on Tyr let's get out of here" Weiss commanded rising into the air, much to the surrounding biker's astonishment. Raijin was quick to follow but Tyr simply stood his ground his teeth barred in anger while his tail twitched from side to side as he stared down the group.

Finally the young Dramon also took to the sky following his friends but before leaving he pointed a single finger downwards unleashing a single fiery Ki blast that struck one of the parked hoverbikes off to the side. The blast impacted the bike which exploded in a shower of metal and fire causing the gang members to run to cover. With a small smile Tyr flew off to catch up with his friends who had already departed.

"What was that for dolt?!" Weiss exclaimed as they passed between several skyscrapers.

"What?" Tyr asked shrugging his shoulders.

"You blew up one of their bikes, there was no need for that, Frieza specifically said to…" Raijin stated before being cut off with a wave from Tyr.

"Look I'm sorry I had to make a scene but those jerks had it coming, I mean they were gonna rob a bunch of kids!" Tyr exclaimed his scales bristling in indignation. Upon seeing the skeptical looks on both his friends faces Tyr decided to keep explaining. "Ok so yeah they really didn't have a chance at actually robbing us but what if we were just regular everyday kids? We wouldn't stand a chance!" Tyr exclaimed.

"He's… kinda right Rai" Weiss admitted as they continued their flight. "Who knows what they would have done if – ARGH!" Weiss cried out as she plummeted out of the sky a scorch mark sizzling on the small of her back. "What the hell?!" Weiss roared as she regained altitude, her eyes flashing in outrage.

"We want that chip and your hides girly!" It was the same Brench biker from the restaurant with what looked like every member of his gang behind him. They all seemed to be armed with various arm based blaster cannons, while some brandished hand held guns, a few of them not armed with traditional weaponry seemed to be swinging metal pipes over their heads threateningly. All in all they weren't a threat but they were still annoying, and a quick glance told the trio that there was a lot of them.

"What do we do?" Raijin asked nervously as incoming bikers unleashed the first volley of blaster fire.

"Let's ditch these idiots" Weiss growled swatting aside a bolt before it could impact her again. Both Tyr and Raijin nodded in agreement accelerating to put some distance between themselves and the gang of thugs. Unfortunately they soon found themselves cut off as more bikers joined the fray this time from right in front of them.

"We got y'all surrounded!" One of them jeered as he passed the trio who had taken defensive positions in a tight group.

"So what's plan B?" Tyr asked taking stock of the crowd gathering around them, for a bunch of brainless thugs they seemed to know how to surround a target. They had formed a tight dome of bikers constantly circling to keep their prey inside.

"We crack some heads" Weiss grinned creaking her neck from side to side. A quick glance over at Raijin reminded her of what Frieza had commanded of them. "Keep it non-lethal ok guys? Frieza did say to stay out of trouble" Weiss said tightening the strap on her bag to keep it in place.

"And what a wonderful job we've done of that" Tyr chuckled his scales completely covering his skin.

"Alright… NOW!" Weiss shouted as the hoverbikers unleashed yet another barrage of laser fire. Both Weiss and Tyr broke off in opposite directions to combat the horde of brutes while Raijin held his ground forming an Ion Barrier to absorb or deflect the incoming projectiles. Raijin watched in satisfaction as most of the weaker blaster bolts ricocheted off his barrier to impact against the bikers around them knocking a few off their bikes while the rest broke into evasive maneuvers to avoid the redirected attack.

That was when both Weiss and Tyr made their move, Weiss began to pick off the distracted bikers with precision strikes. With lightning quick reflexes Weiss unleashed a barrage of jabs that incapacitated any that were unfortunate to get too close. She could feel bones give way, ribs crack and tracheas collapse under her relentless assault, and whenever the opportunity would arise she would snag some poor fool with her tail flinging him into his oncoming comrades or straight into a building.

Tyr took on a different tactic flying amongst the swarm of bikers he lashed out with his hands and tail. Using his armoured appendages to gouge holes out of the hoverbikes themselves, Tyr found he was making short work of the otherwise unimpressive thugs. After the first few tries he found the sweet spot, if he punctured a hole just underneath the left side of the seat it would bring the bike to a screeching halt allowing gravity to take over and drag the bike gently back down as it fought to stay airborne.

Though the kids had the clear advantage in terms of strength the gang itself had the edge in numbers and shear tenacity. Although they had each dispatched around twenty of the bikers they just kept coming and what was worse was that the stray blaster bolts that missed, which was all of them, were streaking down to the streets below. Weiss dodged one stream of fire just to watch it streak down and strike a pedestrian's leg, bringing the unfortunate bystander to the ground in a pained heap.

Weiss' eyes flashed in anger as she took off towards the one who had fired the burst, as luck would have it, it turned out to be the heavy set Brench from earlier. She quickly grasped the man's face in her right hand as she swatted aside one of his gang members with her tail. "You know we're supposed to be on vacation!" Weiss exclaimed in anger as she hauled the man off his bike only to hold him dangling hundreds of feet above the ground. "We're supposed to be having fun today, does this look like fun?!" Weiss exclaimed gesturing around at the destruction from the stray shots, the trapped man in the Frost Demoness' grasp could only shake his head from side to side in terror.

"WOOOOOOOO! This is awesome!" Tyr yelled as he smacked a biker off his ride with his tail. The shocked man flew through the air and into the window of a nearby office building.

"Ugh never mind" Weiss moaned as she flung the panicking thug through the same opening opened up by Tyr. Turning around she took a moment to assess the situation, Tyr was doing a good job of disabling the group. Raijin appeared to be on damage control catching bikers and saving them from plummeting to their deaths while simultaneously trying to protect bystanders with his shields but he couldn't stop everything. Looking down Weiss could see several people hurt from the altercation whether that be from stray blaster bolts or falling hoverbikes.

"We got to get out of here, lead these guys away from the populated areas" Weiss called out which caught both her friends' attention. The truth was they shouldn't have had this fight here in the first place there were too many people getting hurt.

Spotting an opening in the biker's ranks Weiss took off with Tyr and Raijin following closely behind. "So where we going captain?" Tyr joked as his tail swatted away an incoming bolt.

"Somewhere less populated" Weiss replied taking a mental note of the bikers tailing them. At this point she counted no less than fifty Ki signatures, not bad considering there had literally been hundreds when this whole mess started.

"Um hate to bring up the obvious but Langden's a city planet, there isn't really a non-populated area to go to" Raijin called out blocking an incoming rocket with one of his smaller shields.

"Well there's got to be somewhere we can go" Weiss responded sourly. She spun around firing a quick Gorgeous Beam which blasted the bike out from under one of the thugs who was quickly caught by one of his comrades. "How about an industrial area or a dump?" Weiss asked to which Tyr broke into a fit of laughter. "What?" Weiss demanded glaring at the still chuckling Dramon.

"Are you saying we're going to be taking out the trash?" Tyr asked with a huge grin on his face. Both Raijin and Weiss groaned in exasperation at the poor attempt at humour of their Dramon friend.

"Just shut up dolt, Rai can you find us the nearest dump?" Weiss asked as she looked back to her Zamt friend. Raijin was already on his personal datapad scanning through data while trying to keep his shields up.

"Already on it, there's one just over to the east about fifteen miles away" Raijin called out pointing in the direction of their destination.

"Then that's where we're headed let's keep these idiots following us!" Weiss commanded slowing down enough for the bikers to close the distance.

The trio were making good time and with them staying just ahead of the bikers the blaster fire had trickled to a tiny stream as they weaved in and out of buildings. Everything was going exactly according to plan until the sounds of piercing sirens cut into the night.

"Oh hell it's the fuzz!" Tyr exclaimed as he spotted the warning lights in the distance.

"That's not the worst of it" Weiss said worriedly pointing just over to their left and well within view was a news aircraft keeping up with the chase one of its cameras were pointed directly at the worried trio.

"Well… I mean… Frieza doesn't always watch the news right? He might never know what's going on…" Raijin began before the trio felt an ungodly surge in menacing energy spike in the distance. It may have been miles away but there was no mistaking the immense power of the Frost Prince.

"I think he knows" Tyr deadpanned.

"Oh crap oh crap oh crap" Raijin panicked.

"Look we're at the dump already let's just finish these guys off and get out of here ok?" Weiss commanded as she turned around to face the oncoming bikers. "Look the police are right behind them, we take them out and the cops can arrest them" Weiss pointed out swishing her tail back and forth in anticipation.

Looking over to the panicking Zamt Tyr placed his hand on his shoulder and gave him a quick shake. "Come on man I'm sure if we just explain what happened, Frieza will be cool with it" Tyr said trying his best to calm his panicking friend.

"You think?" Raijin asked tentatively.

"Of course I mean Frieza can be reasonable when he wants to be right" Tyr joked as he spun around to join Weiss.

With a deep gulp Raijin joined his friends facing the oncoming bikers, using his senses Raijin determined there were only thirty seven of them left, many must have been caught by the police as he could have sworn there were more chasing them.

"Alright let's wrap this up quick and don't attack any police, that won't go over well no matter how we spin it" Weiss said igniting her aura, she was officially done with these obnoxious hoodlums.

Weiss, Tyr and Raijin broke off into different directions making short work of the bikers. Originally the bikers had the numbers advantage and were able to exploit being in an enclosed area where maneuverability was hampered. Now in the wide open air with no one around to get hurt they found their advantages vanish as the trio of kids picked them off one by one.

Tyr continued to disable the hoverbikes while simultaneously knocking others off of their rides and into the immense trash heaps that had built up at the facility. "So where do you want to go pal" Tyr grinned at the gang member he held in the air with his feet. "We got recycling over there, just over there we have general trash oh and over there's electronics although that looks kinda painful" Tyr snickered as the man struggled against his grip.

"You little brat just wait until I get my hands on you!" the man roared in anger.

"Woah ok compost heap it is" Tyr grinned as he dropped the screaming man into the immense pile of decaying organic matter.

Raijin was making quick work of the bikers as well bringing up barriers just in front of them as they made attack runs on him. Most slammed headfirst into the impenetrable walls only to gently slide down as Raijin guided his barriers back down to the ground carrying the gang members he disposed of into the waiting arms of the police that had gathered on the ground below.

Weiss soon found that the remaining bikers were scattering only now realising their cause was a hopeless one. Catching one fleeing biker by the neck with her tail, Weiss hauled the choking man to face her. It was the same man Tyr had punched through a wall back in the restaurant, the same one that had pickpocketed her. "I hope you realise this is all your fault" Weiss growled tightening her grip on her tail. "If you weren't stupid enough to steal from me none of this would have happened and we could have all had a nice evening, instead most of your friends are going to jail and spending a long time in the hospital."

Weiss' eyes narrowed as the man clawed at her tail gasping for air. It would be so easy one quick squeeze and it would be over. They were already at the dump so disposing of the body would not be difficult. As the man's eyes began to bulge out of his head Weiss sighed releasing her grip on his neck and letting him fall to the ground below. Even from up in the air she could hear the crack of the man's leg shattering on impact soon followed his howls of pain. It hurt like hell alright but he would live through it.

Taking off Weiss soon joined Tyr and Raijin behind some equipment watching as the police rounded up the incapacitated gang members. "So if they found us could they arrest us?" Raijin asked as he peaked around the corner his four blue eyes locked on the nearest police vehicle.

"Doubt it, we're minors after all plus it's not like they could catch us anyways" Tyr joked. Looking around at their surroundings a wry smile crept onto the Dramon's face "you know we were having such a nice day, now it looks like we're just in the dumps" Tyr snickered as his friends groaned in exasperation.

"That's it we're getting out of here" Weiss moaned into her hands as she rose into the air.

"Any idea on what to do now?" Raijin asked joining his friends as they took off back to the city.

"You know on the way over I saw a stadium hosting a fighting tournament we could always check that out" Tyr chimed in his scales now fully retracted back into his darkened skin.

"Sounds good dolt, do you know who's fighting?" Weiss asked moving closer to the Dramon youth.

"No idea but I bet it's gonna be awesome!" Tyr exclaimed putting on another burst of speed as he approached the stadium off in the distance with his friends just behind him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone glad to be back and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We're at over 21k views, that's awesome and as always I'm constantly blown away by how many people are reading the story I never expected it to get this popular but I am so happy it did.**

 **So for this chapter I didn't originally plan it to be only about Weiss, Tyr and Raijin but as time went on the whole chapter just fleshed itself out more and more to the point where I felt like it worked as a standalone chapter.**

 **Next up will be Nadan and Tukkan's night time activities along with Cooler and Shuyo at the tournament mixed with the conclusion of Yang's little story. So to surmise expect next chapter to be on the long side of things.**

 **So I still don't know where the idea for Space Yu-Gi-Oh came from, but the moment it popped in my head I knew I had to add it in I hope you guys enjoyed it cause it was a lot of fun to write. I actually had to rewatch a few episodes from the show to get the feel of their dialogue down.**

 **All in all I just wanted this chapter to be fun trying to limit the dark themes, as those are approaching and I'm personally dreading what my sick mind has in store for Frieza and the gang.**

 **As always hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and hope you're enjoying summer.**

 **Until next time see ya!**


	22. Chapter 22 - Rematch Of The Century

Flying through the halls of The Nemesis had become second nature for Yang but tonight's flight was different. She wasn't flying just to get a better idea of the ship's layout, or to follow Weiss no, tonight she was on a mission. The scent was getting stronger, more prominent and as she passed door after door she knew she was closing in on her prize.

Yang almost completely over shot the room she had been searching for as she flew down the halls. Realising she had just passed her target she performed a quick loop before flying into the room that she had been searching for. Landing on some sort of machine, the function of which the bird would never know, she surveyed the blue haired one's room, the one he did all his work in and let almost no one into without permission.

It only took a few seconds of scanning to find what she had been looking for. There sitting alone on a table under a series of lights and hooked up to several other strange machines was a prickly red fruit. The smell wafting from it was undeniable, it smelled of home, her old one that she lived on before the destroyers came and before Weiss and her new family wiped out the destroyers.

Touching down beside the bright red fruit Yang poked at it tentatively with her sharp beak. When nothing happened she pecked again this time harder leaving a small indent in the Fruit of Might. Looking around cautiously to make sure there was no one around Yang turned back to the fruit and began dragging her beak along the outer skin. The fruit was surprisingly tough so it took a few passes but eventually the enigmatic bird was triumphant and peeled away a small portion of the fruit's outer skin revealing the juicy inside.

The aroma coming from the fruit was even more powerful now, part of her wanted to keep the fruit intact as it smelled so much of her home that had now been laid to waste. However as the smell wafted around her she found she couldn't resist the alluring aroma any longer. Spreading her wings wide and with a triumphant chirp Yang dug her beak into the exposed flesh of the fruit lapping up the juicy nectar inside. It was phenomenal with every bite she could feel her strength grow exponentially. The musculature in her wings bulged outward and she felt a seemingly unlimited supply of energy course through her petit body.

After three minutes of continuous eating she finally finished and Yang hopped on top of one of Nadan's many machines triumphantly holding her beak up high and spreading her wings outward. With a piercing cry Yang took to the air with her new found strength knocking over several of Nadan's precious machines in the process. That mattered very little to Yang who now took off down the halls of the ship at a blinding speed to test her new found strength. Her old world may have been destroyed but she now carried its very spirit inside of her.

* * *

Tukkan had finally done it, he had no clue how this could have happened but somehow he had managed to step into some form of alternate reality. It may have sounded crazy but it was the only thing that made sense in this situation. After all what else could explain Frieza being the talk of the town and being hailed as a hero, Tukkan being turned down by every single woman he tried to talk to and Nadan chatting up a beautiful young woman who hadn't even given Tukkan a second look.

Jokes aside the Konatsian chef was overjoyed that Nadan had found someone to talk to and unwind, the Malakan scientist never allowed himself a real break. Tukkan just couldn't help but see this whole situation as bizarre. So resigning himself to a night of watching whatever sport was being played on the televisions in the bar, Tukkan decided to embrace his role as wingman for his closest friend. He kept a close eye on the pair from his spot at the bar, if Nadan needed help he'd be there for him.

But from where he was sitting it seemed like Nadan had everything under control. The girl he was with was a stunning Brench, with lilac coloured hair and teal skin that wasn't too far off from Nadan's hair colour. From what Tukkan had managed to overhear she seemed to be a student at the local university studying to take a spot at a local research facility. Naturally Nadan jumped at the prospect of speaking to a fellow intellectual and the two quickly hit it off.

That was over an hour ago, Tukkan couldn't help but be impressed, not many people had ever been able to go more than ten minutes talking with Nadan. But against all odds this girl stuck around and the two seemed to be having a lot of fun. Turning his attention to the screen above him Tukkan flicked through the channels absentmindedly.

'Weather? Boring… Battle ball? Not really feeling up for it… Fighting tournament? Maybe but let's see what else there is… Police chase? Nah probably just some kids getting up to no good… Guess there's nothing great on' Tukkan thought to himself as he signaled for another drink from the barkeep who slid another green concoction over to him. Taking a quick swig he felt the bubbling liquid go down his throat burning all the way down. He didn't know what it was, what was in it or why it was green and bubbling but damn did it taste good.

Looking back over to check on Nadan he was surprised to see the Malakan scientist making his way over to him with his lady friend staring after him. "Hey pal what's up?" Tukkan greeted his friend cheerily as Nadan hopped up on the stool next to him.

"Well I was just coming over to say that I don't believe I'll be coming back to the ship tonight" Nadan stated taking a quick glance back to his lilac haired friend.

"No problem man, where we heading?" Tukkan exclaimed taking another swig of his mystery drink.

"You see I'll be heading over to Etain's place it seems" Nadan said taking another semi-nervous glance backwards.

Realisation slowly dawned on Tukkan as his friend's words sank in. Rather than make a big scene Tukkan bent down and kept his voice low to avoid being overheard by anyone. "I am so proud of you Nad" Tukkan was positively giddy, his little scientific shut-in was finally growing up. "Do you need me to give you guys a ride?" Tukkan asked watching as his friends eyes widened in horror.

"NO! Err I mean no that won't be necessary" Nadan said wiping a bead of sweat away from his brow. "Look I just need you to cover for me if Lord Frieza asks about me" Nadan stated as he pulled out his datapad. "I have everything set up to be automatically taken care of by the drones aboard the ship so all the menial tasks should be dealt with… hang on" Nadan said as he squinted at the readout on the green screen.

"What's the matter Nad?" Tukkan asked peering over the Malakan's shoulder.

"Something's tripped the sensors in my lab" Nadan mumbled cautiously.

"Any external breaches?" Tukkan asked as he took another sip of his drink.

"No just a motion sensor I had installed" Nadan said checking on the other systems aboard The Nemesis.

Peering over Nadan's head Tukkan chanced a glance at Etain, the girl seemed to have a worried expression on her face as she looked over to the two of them. Tukkan could also spot a pair of seedy looking individuals over in the corner, both of them seemed to be eyeing up Etain who had her back to them. 'Alright Tuk wingman mode activate' Tukkan thought to himself as he turned back to Nadan who was still immersed in his datapad. "Probably just Yang man I don't think you have anything to worry about" Tukkan said, he needed to hurry this along.

"But I could have sworn I sealed up the lab" Nadan mumbled going back over to the initial warning.

"You must have forgot man, it happens" Tukkan said cheerily keeping one eye trained on the seedy pair off in the corner.

"Perhaps you're right" Nadan mumbled looking away from the screen at last.

"Of course I am buddy, now might I just say it's rude to keep a cute girl waiting" Tukkan said clapping his hand on Nadan's shoulder.

"Right! I almost forgot!" Nadan exclaimed turning around to head back to his table.

"Hold up Nad" Tukkan called out bringing the excited Malakan to a halt.

"What?" Nadan asked as Tukkan walked up to him.

"I'll be taking that" Tukkan said as he reached down taking Nadan's datapad from him. "I know you too well pal and I can't let you have access to this, you might end up ignoring her" Tukkan smirked as he placed the datapad in his pocket for safety. "Now run along and have fun" Tukkan said shooing away his friend.

"Just make sure to keep an eye on the ship and if any more warnings go off please go check it out" Nadan asked to which Tukkan gave him a thumb's up.

"Don't worry pal I got your back" Tukkan replied as he retook his seat at the bar all the while keeping his eyes trained on his friend his date as well as the pair watching them intently from the corner. After a quick exchange both Nadan and Etain got up from their seats and began heading for the door. Tukkan would have breathed a sigh of relief if the two men in the corner hadn't also gotten up at the exact same time. Waving over the barkeep Tukkan ran his credit chip through to pay for his drinks before tailing the pair out of the bar "always got your back Nad" Tukkan muttered to himself as he slipped through the doors.

"There she is, what did I tell ya Tobar cute little thing ain't she?" One of the thugs muttered to the one called Tobar from the alley they were skulking in.

"Yeah yeah you were right Jericho but what about the pip squeak?" Tobar asked as the pair stared down the unsuspecting Nadan and Etain. Both of them were chatting with each other as they waited for a cab to come pick them up, both oblivious to the danger lurking just a few feet behind them.

"What you scared of some nerdy lizard?" Jericho questioned with a smirk.

"Nah, I'm just saying do we just knock him around a bit or do something a little more permanent?" Tobar asked cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"Why not both?" His partner chuckled darkly.

"Sounds good to me, you ready?" Tobar inquired as he straightened himself.

"Hell yeah on three… one… two… thr-" Jericho never got to finish his countdown as he collapsed in a heap knocked out cold from a single punch to the back of the head.

"What the he-" Tobar fared no better as a quick punch to the gut brought the seedy looking thug to his knees before passing out from the pain.

As this was happening Nadan and Etain entered the cab that had just arrived for them never realising how close they had come to danger that night. Tukkan couldn't help but chuckle as he dragged the two thugs further into the alley, he was not a violent person by nature but when people threatened his friends he tended to get a little over protective. Finding a particularly filthy dumpster Tukkan shoved the two unconscious brutes into the waste receptacle leaving the pair in a tangled heap of limbs.

Taking a moment he reached out with his senses to double check on Nadan he could feel his energy signature getting further and further away, but he was safe and that was all that mattered. "Looks like the rest of your night's in your hands buddy don't screw it up" Tukkan chuckled as he took to the air hoping the smell of the disgusting alley wouldn't cling to his jacket for too long. "Now what to do? Guess there's that tournament that Cooler and Shuyo went to, I'm sure they won't mind me dropping in" Tukkan grinned as he took off spotting three distinct trails of Ki in the distance, it looked like the kids had the same idea.

* * *

"Well this has been one immense let down" Cooler grumbled from his ring side seat. Both he and Shuyo had arrived just in time to catch the first fight of the sixteen man fighting tournament , it was now the final match to decide the winner of the whole tournament and the Frost Prince couldn't help but feel completely disappointed by the evening's action, if you could call it that. It had actually started quite promising with the first two combatants laying it all on the line swinging for the fences and showing that grit and determination one would expect from a true fighter, unfortunately it all went downhill from there.

As part of a sixteen man tournament the victor would have to end up fighting four separate opponents before the evening's conclusion, no easy task to be sure. But because of this many fighters employed an incredibly conservative style, most focused on grappling employing very little extraneous action and movement. While this was an intelligent strategy to achieve victory in this style of tournament it left much to be desired in the way of excitement.

A drawn out sigh from Cooler's left caught his attention drawing the Frost Demon's gaze over to Shuyo who had a similarly bored expression. Cooler couldn't help but smirk at the monk's frown "so still think this is interesting?" Cooler asked as Shuyo glanced his way. At first Shuyo had defended the grappling heavy styles stating they took an incredible amount of skill and technique to learn how to control your opponent and make the fight your own. Cooler himself agreed that grappling, especially some of the forms of wrestling being employed, was quite impressive but when all the fighters did was try and hold their opponent against the fence during the fifteen minutes they were in the cage it ended up leaving a bad taste in the mouth of one who just wanted to watch a good fight.

"I'll admit that this is a tad… excessive" Shuyo muttered, watching as the fighter in the red shorts slowly dragged the one in blue shorts to the mat with a painfully slow takedown. Cooler was right, though Shuyo would never admit it to the Frost Prince, this whole tournament, save for a few fights, had been incredibly lackluster. The chorus of boos and insults being hurled by the increasingly agitated crowd informed Shuyo that he and Cooler were not the only ones feeling cheated out of an enjoyable evening.

"A tad? Shuyo they haven't thrown a punch in the last two rounds… and this is the finals!" Cooler exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Shuyo nodded his head glumly, once again the Frost Demon was right, both fighters were employing the same wrestling centric strategy but both of them seemed exhausted from their previous fights leaving both combatants huffing and gasping for air after only twelve minutes. Suddenly a horn blared signaling the end to the fight, a wave of confusion swept through the audience as everyone craned their head to look into the ring or up to the big screens. Both fighters were gathered, both looking exhausted and worn out despite the distinct lack of action.

The announcer who had been doing his best to get fans excited for the fights all evening walked to the center of the hexagonal ring with a frown creasing his features. "Ladies and gentlemen referee Shinja Tosk has called a stop to this contest at three minutes and twenty-nine seconds of the third round declaring the winner and our new champion by tap out due to exhaustion Klay Declan!" The announcer was clearly doing his best to get the crowd excited for the win but even his distinct and high energy voice couldn't stop the shouts emanating from the stands.

"What kind of crap is this?!" One man shouted from the Shuyo's right.

"This whole tournament was garbage but you end it like this, what the hell?!" Another shouted from a few seats above.

"I want a refund!" That shout came from a multitude of people.

Shuyo could feel the growing animosity in the arena and watched as the fighters left the cage doing their best to keep straight faced amidst the overwhelming negative tirade directed to them. This whole building was on the cusp of a full scale riot it was only a matter of time.

"Well that was disappointing, if you want to look on the bright side at least no one saw that end coming. Tap out due to exhaustion what a farce" Cooler said shaking his head with a wry smile on his face. "Want to get out of here? Perhaps we can find something better to do tonight" Cooler asked his companion who looked lost in thought. "Hey I'm talking to you" Cooler stated smacking Shuyo's arm to get his attention.

"There's still one last fight though, it's an exhibition match but it could be good" Shuyo stated turning to the bored Frost Demon.

"Or it could be terrible, it's between two people who couldn't even make it into this joke of a competition" Cooler grumbled slumping back into his seat. "We could put on a more exciting fight without even trying" Cooler waved his hand dismissively not noticing the small smile creeping on the usually stoic monk's face.

"I'll be right back, don't go anywhere" Shuyo stated before vanishing in a burst of speed shocking the other viewers around them.

"Be back soon, wouldn't want to miss all the action" Cooler sighed sarcastically as the shouting and chorus of boos escalated.

Shuyo was gone for about two minutes but upon returning the small smile on his face had grown into a mischievous grin that was incredibly rare for the green monk. "So you still think we could put on a better fight?" Shuyo asked crossing his arms as Cooler eyed him suspiciously.

"Of course we could… Why?" Cooler asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I just had a quick chat with the tournament's president" Shuyo stated beginning to undo the sash that kept the upper section of his robes tied to him.

"Oh really?" Cooler inquired his interest peaking now.

"I managed to convince him that we might be able to put on a better show for the crowd than who they had lined up" Shuyo stated letting his robes fall onto his seat revealing his chiselled abs and pecs.

"Interesting but what exactly do I get out of it?" Cooler asked straightening in his seat a smile of his own now dancing across his face.

"Well I said we would do it for free, but I guess you can get some enjoyment out of it not to mention I'm sure the crowd will be more than happy to thank you" Shuyo said glancing over at the surrounding people.

"My brother's the glutton for attention not I" Cooler said with a smirk.

"Fair point, but how about this, you get another crack at beating me" Shuyo said with a confident smirk. He knew he had the Frost Demon at that, if there was one thing Cooler wanted above all it was another shot at the stoic monk who had bested him back on Fuar.

Cooler didn't waste a second before springing to his feat a confident grin on his face "you got yourself a deal Lool." Both fighters quickly took to the air landing beside a bald man who was waiting for them in the middle of the ring. He wore an expensive looking suit though he didn't look entirely comfortable wearing it.

"So you guys are actually going to do this?" The president asked expectantly eyeing both combatants who nodded in approval. "Ok… and you're sure you can put on a good fight for the crowd?" He asked a worried look passing over his face as he once again scanned the restless crowd.

"They'll never forget it" Cooler smirked, his tail swishing from side to side in excitement.

"Alright then, good luck" the president stated before clasping his hands on both fighter's shoulders before exiting the cage only to be replaced by the announcer from earlier.

"So you guys think you can save tonight?" he asked to which Shuyo gave a thumb's up. "Ok… I don't really know anything about you though to introduce you" the announcer admitted rubbing the back of his head. He wasn't used to being unprepared and usually had all the information he would need weeks in advance.

"I'll take care of that" Shuyo stated placing his fore finger to the man's head. All of a sudden the announcer's eyes rolled back into his head and he began to shake. This lasted only a few seconds before Shuyo retracted his finger and the announcer gasped as his senses were returned to him.

"How did you do that?!" He asked in shock at the rush of information the monk had provided him.

"Little trick I picked up a long time ago, is that enough to go off of?" Shuyo asked to which the announcer nodded vigorously.

"More than enough, whenever you guys are ready" the announcer said still a little wide eyed at the experience he just went through. Being force fed information was an interesting sensation, one he didn't necessarily want to undergo again.

Both Cooler and Shuyo nodded to each other before turning away and heading to opposite ends of the hexagonal cage that would be their arena. It was a little small to what they were used to, which tended to be entire battlefields, but they would make do. The referee soon made his way into the cage with them, he was a stout Bas with deep purple skin, he wore pure black clothing and black gloves and despite his diminutive size he carried himself with a sense of importance and authority that even Cooler was mildly impressed with.

The boos and shouts around the arena died down as they realised that the new combatants in the cage were not those who had originally been billed. Talk quickly swept through the crowd as they tried to figure out who they were. Curiosity turned to realisation as they recognized the combatants as two of the warriors who had defeated the Crusher Corps alongside Frieza. Animosity and anger quickly turned to excitement, almost everyone in that stadium had seen the footage and knew what both fighters were capable of.

Tarun Ga, the announcer, took this lull in the shouting to begin the introductions. Part of his job was deliver the information to the crowd but his primary purpose was to get them excited for the coming fight, something that had become increasingly difficult as the night progressed. Tarun introduced the judges who would be scoring the fight as well as the referee, who now stood just behind him, before spreading his arms wide to address the crowd.

"And now the moment you've all been waiting for, three rounds in an LFC exhibition match! These two warriors have entered the universally famous Hexagon to give you fine people the show you've wanted all evening!" He proclaimed as the cheers from the crowd began to increase in scale, the man truly knew how to get the crowd excited.

"Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner, he is a counter fighter, holding a record of twenty-two wins, two loses and one no-contest! Standing at six feet, one inch tall, weighing in at two-hundred and five pounds! Fighting out of Veibos in the Krell sector he is a member of the Elite Frieza Force as well as former champion of the Galactic Freedom Movement! Ladies and gentlemen presenting SHUYO LOOL!" Tarun exclaimed as the entire arena erupted in cheers. Shuyo raised a single arm in the air as the people cheered his name across the arena, this was definitely a different experience.

"And now introducing his opponent, fighting out of the red corner, an aggression fighter, holding a record of forty-five wins with one loss and one no-contest! He stands at five feet, eleven inches tall, weighing in at two-hundred and fifteen pounds! Fighting out of Fuar in the Glac sector, he is the heir to the Cold Empire, Prince of the Frost Demons and second in command of both the Planet Trade Organization and the Frieza Force! Ladies and Gentlemen in this arena and watching across the galaxy presenting the pride of Fuar, the unstoppable Frost Demon himself COOLER!" Tarun proclaimed pointing at Cooler who stood there with a smile on his face as the stadium once again erupted in cheers.

"So this is why Frieza's such an attention hound" Cooler smirked as both he and Shuyo made their way to the center of the cage where the ref was waiting for them.

The stout Bas looked from Shuyo to Cooler rising into the air so he could place his hands on both of their shoulders as the two fighters stared each other down. "Alright gentlemen I assume you know the rules protect yourself at all times, no energy attacks, no flying, no transformations and follow my instructions" the ref stated his voice amplified by the mic attached to the side of his head. Both Shuyo and Cooler returned to their respective corners awaiting the signal to begin. The Bas ref looked from one to the other before clapping his hands to signal the fight's commencement "Let's do this!"

Both fighters quickly moved forward with Cooler taking the center of the Hexagon, wasting no time Cooler immediately began pumping out jabs at a blistering speed. Shuyo did his best to stay out of range as Cooler's left hand lashed out like a jackhammer, but was forced to raise his guard as some of the strikes found their mark. Cooler grinned as he continued to push forward forcing Shuyo to retreat as his jabs helped the Frost Prince get a better sense of his range. Spotting an opening Cooler stepped forward attacking with a quick overhand right that snaked past Shuyo's guard and connected just behind the ear throwing the monk off balance.

Taking advantage of the monk's semi dazed state Cooler rushed forward this time following his jab with a right hook to the monk's body. The liver shot did its job and stopped Shuyo's diagonal movement and forced the monk backwards into the cage. With nowhere to retreat Cooler unleashed a full barrage of powerful strikes keeping the attack varied enough so that Shuyo couldn't guess what would come next. A right straight just above the monk's eye, a left hook to the body, a right elbow to Shuyo's jaw, an uppercut that transitioned into a spinning back elbow. The varied assault was doing wonders and Shuyo quickly found a cut opening just above his right eye.

Sensing a small opening Shuyo ducked low avoiding a right cross and began to once again circle away from the determined Frost Demon. Glancing up at the clock Shuyo was a little shocked to find that only a single minute had passed in the fight so far. He didn't have long to dwell on it however as Cooler was back in his face with that jab. Normally Shuyo would thrive off of fighting such an aggressive fighter but Cooler was different, while not in his transformed state Cooler's aggression was far more calculating, he looked to pick his opponent apart with his high output and right now Shuyo could attest that such a style was highly effective.

Ducking under a jab cross combination Shuyo fired back with a jab of his own which caught Cooler just under the eye. Undeterred Cooler pressed the attack this time mixing in more kicks into his assault, charging forward he attacked with yet another jab only to follow up with a straight right then transitioned into a wheel kick that Shuyo managed to block with his left arm. Cooler was now off balance and wide open as Shuyo lashed out with a vicious right hook connecting flush with Cooler's jaw and dropping the Frost Demon. The force of the blow may have shook the entire stadium but Cooler was back on his feet in an instant smiling openly as he rubbed his jaw. This was what he had wanted a true fight between him and Shuyo.

Rather than push his advantage Shuyo began once again to circle this time to the Frost Demon's left to keep him away from Cooler's power punches. Wasting no time Cooler pushed forward once again with his jab at the ready. Taking a step forward Cooler landed a glancing jab close to the cut above Shuyo's eye, which was slowly dripping blood down the side of his face, rather than follow with a punch Cooler lashed out with a left leg kick. The lightning fast strike connected with the inside of Shuyo's left leg knocking his leg out from under him. The unexpected strike left Shuyo open for a surprise uppercut that got under Shuyo's guard and snapped his head upwards. Once again Shuyo found himself against the cage unable to counter the unpredictable assault Cooler was unleashing upon him.

Cooler poured on the strikes as Shuyo turtled up ducking from side to side all the while keeping his guard up to defend. Spotting an opening Cooler unleashed a brutal knee directly into Shuyo's gut that knocked the wind right out of the monk. In desperation Shuyo threw an overhand right haymaker which Cooler was forced to back away from. That bought Shuyo the second he needed to catch his breath as Cooler pushed forward once again. Spinning around Shuyo countered with a spinning back kick to create some distance once again, the strike landed bruising the purple flesh of the Frost Demon's midsection where it landed.

Though the blow had been painful Cooler kept on grinning as he once again went on the offensive, looking to cut off Shuyo's attempt to circle away from his Shuyo traded his left jab for a sweeping left hook that caught the monk off guard. Shuyo managed to block the attack at the last moment but the damage had been done and he was once again left flat footed in front of the Frost Demon. Cooler dashed forward jumping as he did so slamming his knee into Shuyo who was pushed into the cage once again by the strike.

Rather than circle away this time Shuyo changed tactics completely, ducking low to avoid an incoming right elbow, Shuyo clasped his hands around the Frost Demon's thighs. Pulling his arms closer to his chest while pushing forward with his legs Shuyo managed to pull off the surprise double leg takedown. After a quick scramble Shuyo found himself in a full mount on top of the Frost Prince. Shuyo wasted no time and began throwing a storm of thunderous strikes to his grounded opponent who quickly covered up doing his best to avoid the flurry of strikes from the green monk.

Shuyo took a methodical pace picking his shots trying to work through Cooler's guard as he looked to end the fight from this dominant position. So focused was he on breaking the Frost Demon's guard that he failed to notice his opponent's tail until it coiled around his neck. With a quick flick Cooler launched Shuyo across the cage, impacting against the fence, which miraculously held strong. Shuyo managed to land on his feet but was surprised as Cooler appeared just in front of him landing a powerful elbow right to the center of the monk's face. Stumbling back Shuyo began to laugh as he traded blows with Cooler who also had a smile on his face.

"What's so funny?" Cooler smirked as he threw a left cross that Shuyo weaved away from just to counter with a left jab, right side kick combo.

"Just thinking that if I had a nose you would have just broken it" Shuyo chuckled as he ducked under a rolling right hook and countered with a right hook of his own this one directed to Cooler's liver.

The hook did more damage than expected as Cooler buckled from the blow. Before Shuyo could take advantage of the Frost Demon's injured state Cooler shot forward grasping the monk by his forelegs. Shifting upwards Cooler lifted Shuyo right off his feet before turning him over and slamming the stoic monk down with a thunderous crash that shook the entire stadium. Now in side control Cooler had a clear unobstructed view of Shuyo's face and decided to work on the cut he opened up earlier. The Frost Prince began raining down a steady stream of elbows all of which targeted the open wound above Shuyo's eye.

As the cut slowly began to widen Shuyo pushed upwards shoving Cooler off of him. Cooler was ready for this though and as he felt Shuyo push him off he managed to coil his tail around the monk's exposed ankle. With a quick tug Cooler pulled Shuyo off the ground and threw him against the fence before charging after the bloodied monk. Looking up Shuyo saw Cooler coming with his right hand cocked back, with no time to dodge and nowhere to retreat Shuyo charged forward with his own right hand primed. Both combatants connected with their punches each one impacting the others chin, the force of the strikes knocked several people off their feet and nearly dropped both combatants.

Before either fighter could right themselves to press forward a loud horn sounded that echoed throughout the stadium calling a halt to the first round. The cheers echoing through the stadium was nothing short of deafening. In just the short five minutes they had spent in one round both Shuyo and Cooler had managed to get the crowd more excited than all the previous fights combined. Both fighters flashed each other one last grin before making their way to their respective corners where a stool had already been laid out for each. Sitting down on his stool Shuyo closed his eyes and took a steadying breath enjoying the calm before the next round.

"Hey Shuyo!" an all too familiar voice called out in front of him. Snapping his eyes open Shuyo was greeted by the site of both Weiss and Raijin.

"What are you two doing here?" Shuyo asked in confusion.

"We're your corner-men… don't ask how we got in" Weiss stated as she began wiping away the blood over Shuyo's eye with a towel. "Ok so I'm just going to say it that was a hard round for you, Cooler has your number and your usual counter striking just isn't going to cut it this time" Weiss stated as she offered a bottle of water.

"Right Cooler's getting comfortable in there and you can't let that happen" Raijin stated from behind Shuyo as he rubbed his back. "You need to take him out of his comfort zone like he did with you" said the young Zamt.

"How do you propose I do that?" Shuyo asked with a small chuckle staring across the cage to where Cooler was sitting. It seemed he had both Tyr and Tukkan in his corner.

"We need you to get aggressive no more of this defensive counter striking, get in his face and rough him up" Weiss stated as she pulled away from the now cleaned up cut. "Mix it up and close the distance, get him against the cage and use your dirty boxing to attack his side where the bruising is. Right now he's dictating when and where the fight takes place, you can't give him that kind of control." The horn sounded just as Weiss finished, signalling their time was up.

"Remember keep him guessing and good luck!" Raijin called out as he and Weiss left the cage.

Both Shuyo and Cooler stared at one another from across the cage once more both with the same smile, despite the bruising and cuts they couldn't deny they were having a blast. "Alright you ready?" The ref called out to Shuyo who nodded. "How about you?" He asked Cooler who mimicked the monk's action. "Alright round two let's get it on!" The stout Bas exclaimed clapping his hands together.

Cooler moved forward expecting to take the center of the cage like last round however he was caught off guard when Shuyo took the center before the Frost Demon had even made it halfway. He was even more surprised when Shuyo went on the offensive lashing out with a flurry of punches and kicks. Raising his guard Cooler was forced into a retreat as Shuyo stalked him down throwing strikes whenever Cooler would so much as slow down.

Taking advantage of his opponent's surprised state Shuyo charged forward feinting with a right hook only to lead with knee to Cooler's bruised midsection. The knee landed slamming the Frost Prince into the cage while simultaneously knocking the wind out of him. Before Cooler could look to retreat Shuyo was in his face unleashing a storm of punches that bruised the Frost Prince's arms as he did his best to defend. Shuyo primarily focused on throwing hooks using them to get past Cooler's surprisingly sound defense. Just as before though Shuyo failed to notice Cooler's tail until it was too late.

Cooler's tail tightened around Shuyo's ankle dragging it out and forcing the monk off balance. Taking advantage of his unbalanced state Cooler connected with a powerful uppercut snapping the monk's head back before Cooler spun around dragging Shuyo with him. Using his tail Cooler slammed the green monk face first into the side of the cage. Before Shuyo could recover Cooler spotted an opportunity and leapt forward, snaking his legs around the green monk's waist while simultaneously latching his right arm around Shuyo's throat and using his left to push his head forward.

Shuyo had not been expecting a standing rear naked choke so by the time he realised what was happening Cooler had already secured the choke hold tight around the stoic monk's neck. Reaching up to remove Cooler's hold, Shuyo's arm was quickly subdued by the Frost Demon's tail which coiled around his wrist and held it by his side. The sudden movement threw the pair off balance and they both toppled to the ground but Cooler never let go of the hold even as he impacted against the mat.

Now looking straight up with Cooler underneath him Shuyo was nearly blinded by the bright lights of the stadium. He could just make out the ref overhead monitoring the action, that was when everything started to fade to black. Cooler had secured the choke now for nearly thirty seconds and was squeezing as hard as he could to end the fight right then and there.

"Shuyo you got to break out of that hold don't let him win!" Weiss called out, they were close enough to his corner that he could just barely make out the kid's voice over the roar of the crowd.

"You gotta work the body!" Raijin called out from beside the Frost Demoness.

Focusing his strength Shuyo threw his elbow back impacting Cooler's bruised midsection with a satisfying thud. Almost immediately Cooler's grip slackened from the impact. Emboldened by the success of the kidney shot Shuyo unleashed a barrage of the elbow strikes, all of which found their mark.

In a show of desperation Cooler pushed Shuyo off of him to cease the counter attack. Rolling backwards to create some distance from the monk Cooler managed to get to his feet, all the while clutching his side in pain. Across the ring Shuyo was hunched over coughing as his lungs strained themselves for oxygen. Locking eyes from across the ring both fighters burst out laughing as they settled into fighting stances once again.

"My god you take an eternity to choke" Cooler grinned as he stepped forward towards the advancing monk.

"And your liver can take quite a beating" Shuyo called back with a smirk.

"Oh is this your way of telling me I should drink less?" Cooler chuckled as they both got within striking range of each other.

"No… But this is" Shuyo stated as he hopped upwards and spun around to deliver a spinning back kick. The strike was aimed directly for the growing welt on the Frost Demon's side, but Cooler was ready and brought his tail up to defend against the strike. Shuyo's foot impacted against Cooler's tail with negligible effect giving the Frost Demon the chance he needed to shift the fight back in his favour.

Ducking low Cooler lunged forward keeping his guard up as he approached the stoic monk. No longer using his jab to set up his attack Cooler unleashed a torrent of punches, looking to overwhelm his opponent once more with the sheer volume of his strikes. Shuyo didn't just stand there though, taking the advice of his corner to heart Shuyo fired back. Both fighters attacking relentlessly at point blank range, Cooler utilizing the slight speed advantage was able to get more shots off than his green skinned opponent and he soon had Shuyo on the retreat once more.

Shuyo ducked under one of Cooler's straight rights only to be caught by a left cross snapping his head to the side just long enough for a right hook to connect. He needed to make some distance, Cooler was overloading him with the number of strikes being thrown. In desperation Shuyo attacked with a low right hook aimed right for Cooler's midsection. Just like before Cooler's tail snaked up to block the attack as if it had a mind of its own. Though the attack left no damage it gave Shuyo the opportunity he needed to get some space from the relentless Frost Demon.

Both fighters stared at each other, both panting as the intense standoff began to take its toll on their stamina. Shuyo wiped away some blood and spittle that had been leaking from his mouth, while Cooler rubbed the painful welt that had developed along his side. Both fighters grinned at each other over the roar of the crowd around them.

"One minute left!" Weiss called out over the raucous cheering.

Moving in unison both fighters charged forward once more, Cooler leading with a stepping jab was left vulnerable as Shuyo ducked under the punch. Latching his hands around the back of Cooler's exposed head Shuyo trapped the Frost Demon in a strong clinch before dragging Cooler's head down into his waiting knee. The satisfying crack of the cartilage in Cooler's nose was accompanied by an eruption of blood that gushed from the Frost Demon's nose as his nose broke on impact.

As Cooler attempted to break out of Shuyo's grasp and away from the monk's devastating attack he found that the monk had managed to get him against the cage. To make matters worse for the Frost Prince Shuyo's grasp held firm and he dragged Cooler's head back down for yet another powerful knee. This time Cooler raised his arms to defend against the attack but it still hurt nonetheless. Not wasting any time Shuyo pushed forward delivering a knee aimed directly at the Frost Prince's midsection. The devastating attack landed causing Cooler to retch in pain, the welt on the side of his body was now an ugly mix of black and deep purple.

Try as he might Cooler couldn't break the stoic monk's grip on his head. Out of the corner of his eye Cooler could just make out the time on the big screen. Only five seconds left in the round, he needed to do something and fast, this round had been far too closely contested he needed to leave an impression.

Thinking quickly Cooler sent his tail in between himself and Shuyo breaking through the stoic monk's grip as he slapped Shuyo with the nimble appendage. Charging forward Cooler sent out a left jab that forced Shuyo to duck downwards, right into Cooler's incoming kick. Cooler's kick was perfectly timed and impacted the side of Shuyo's head with a thunderous crack that shook the stadium and dropped the stoic monk just as the bell sounded to signal the end of the round.

Shuyo shakily got back to his feet as both fighters glared at each other. Cooler's body was covered in bruises especially around his midsection and his nose was a broken, bloody mess. Shuyo was fairing no better the cut above his eye had reopened and was now gushing blood down the side of his face and his left eye was starting to swell shut from the damage it had endured. Despite their injuries both fighters grinned at each other as they made their way back to their respective corners.

"Congratulations you just made that round impossible to score" Tukkan said as he knelt down to pass the seated Frost Demon a bottle of water. "I would have had to give that round to Shuyo but after that head kick of yours well that just turned the whole thing upside down" Tukkan continued wiping away some of the sweat on Cooler's shoulders as Tyr paced in front of him.

"You need to use your tail more, you were doing your best when you kept Shuyo on his toes and guessing" Tyr stated as he continued to pace taking a moment to glare over at the other corner. "They're probably going to try a similar strategy as before and get in your face early" Tyr stated looking over Cooler's injured form.

"Any suggestions then?" Cooler asked sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact yes, get right back in his face, turn this fight into a brawl, Shuyo's the more technical fighter but you have the physical advantage, get him mad, make him sloppy and dominate with your superior strength" Tyr demanded, clapping his hands together triumphantly. "You took the first round, the second at this point's a tossup, you need to take the third if you want to secure the win" Tyr said just as the horn blared for the commencement of the final round.

"Give him hell!" Tukkan called out cheerily as he hopped over the cage with Tyr right behind him. Tukkan himself may not have enjoyed fighting himself, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy watching others duke it out.

The referee once again lowered himself down into the ring looking nervously from one fighter to the other. "Last round guys make it count… Let's do it!" The Bas ref called out, his voice being drowned out by the roaring crowd around them.

Both fighters vanished before reappearing in the center of the ring both of them having planted a fist into the other's cheek. The dual impact rattled the stadium knocking people clean off their feet and causing the power to flicker. Despite the devastating punches both Cooler and Shuyo smiled at each other as they both delivered the same follow up punch both shots impacting with the same force of the first.

A moment passed where neither Cooler nor Shuyo moved and the entire stadium was completely silent waiting to see what would happen next. What transpired next was all hell breaking loose inside the Hexagon that night, both Shuyo and Cooler attacked each other at a blistering pace that even their corners had trouble keeping up with. Each impact rattled the stadium around them to the core, each blow knocked more people to the ground as they cheered on the fighters with manic glee.

Dropping out of hypersonic speed Cooler forced Shuyo back with a series of thunderous hooks before spinning around and smashing his tail against Shuyo's leg which almost buckled under the strain. Shuyo wasn't going down without one hell of a fight though, reaching down in a flash he grasped Cooler's tail and pulled the surprised Frost Demon forward directly into a straight right hook that took Cooler completely off his feet with the tremendous impact.

Cooler managed to land on all fours but was soon being hoisted into the air as Shuyo snaked his arms around the Frost Demon's waist. Lifting Cooler over his head Shuyo slammed the surprised Frost Demon down with a catastrophic suplex that knocked a chunk of the roof down. Luckily Tukkan was quick to react and caught the falling chunk of steel and concrete before it could hurt anyone in the stands.

Just as Shuyo attempted to get his arms around the Frost Demon's neck Cooler's tail wrapped around the green monk's ankle and with a quick tug yanked Shuyo off of him and across the ring. Shuyo slammed into the cage, which miraculously held its place. Shuyo had little time to breath however as Cooler was already back in his face his arms a blur of punches that Shuyo was having trouble keeping up with. To make matters worse Cooler had begun mixing his tail into more of his combinations making it feel like he was battling three separate limbs.

Taking a chance Shuyo once more dove forward scooping Cooler into his arms as he picked the Frost Demon up over his head. Cooler braced himself for yet another slam but was taken off guard as Shuyo let him go. Cooler drifted down in a stunned slow motion as he watched Shuyo cock his hand back for a massive punch. The punch came sooner than expected and slammed directly into Cooler's injured torso with a horrible crunch that sent the injured Frost Demon hurtling into the seemingly invincible cage.

Clutching his side in pain Cooler dropped to a knee as he once again attempted to regain his composure. Shuyo refused to give him such a reprieve as he charged forward landing a picture perfect uppercut that knocked Cooler's head back and into the path of Shuyo's perfectly timed straight right that turned Cooler's already bloodied nose into an even uglier mess.

It was Cooler's turn to retreat as Shuyo stalked him around the ring attacking with reckless abandon trying to put Cooler away here and now. Both fighters new this fight was far too close to leave in the hands of the judges. Both of them wanted the finish and it was Shuyo's turn to try and get it.

Kicking off the cage Shuyo caught up to Cooler slamming his elbow just above the Frost Demon's left eye. The sharp strike managed to open a cut along the ridge, much like the one Shuyo himself currently sported. Just as Shuyo touched down he immediately lashed out with a snap kick to Cooler's body who curled up from the well timed strike. Shuyo was going to take another step forward however his attack was halted as Cooler's tail whipped out and slammed into the side of his head pressing him against the cage from the surprise attack.

Just like that Cooler had turned the tide of the battle and pressed forward once more. Feinting with a punch to the body, Cooler transitioned into a head kick that just grazed the top of Shuyo's head. Though the initial strike was only a passing blow Cooler could still rely on his tail and as he continued to spin around he felt the satisfying thud of his tail impacting flesh. The problem was that he stopped spinning and he now felt a tight grip on his tail. Bracing for what would come next, Cooler wasn't surprised as once again he felt his feet leave the canvas.

Gripping the end of Cooler's tail, Shuyo, now sporting a purple bruise along the side of his head, lifted Cooler over his head and slammed him down again into the ground behind him. The impact dented the floor and tore the canvas as Cooler slammed into it with a colossal crash.

Without even looking Cooler tugged his tail towards him dragging Shuyo along with it. Spinning around Cooler leapt into the air and slammed his knee into Shuyo's incoming face knocking Shuyo to the ground in a heap. Normally such an attack would have had the ref call the fight right there but he had been in such a stunned state that he had actually done next to no officiating. This was for the best as no sooner had Shuyo impacted against the damaged floor then he had gotten back up and renewed his attack on Cooler who reciprocated the action with glee.

As both fighters traded blows the packed stadium around them was in a frenzy watching these warriors fight with everything they had. Over the sounds of cheering and celebrating, over the sound of thunderous punches and commentators screaming their praise at these two titans, a select few people with either good enough hearing or who were close enough to the action could pick out one incredible sound in particular, laughter.

The normally reserved Shuyo and the ever calm Cooler were cackling at the top of their lungs as they exchanged strike after strike, only being interrupted as one of them received a punch from the other. With only a few seconds left in the round both Shuyo and Cooler focused all their remaining energy into a single punch. Both punches landed simultaneously with a thunderous cataclysmic crash that seemed to rattle the entire city around them. Both fighters stood there in the center of the ring howling with laughter as the bell rang signalling the end of the third round and the fight.

As the audience picked themselves up off the ground they realised the fight was over and erupted in fresh cheers at the spectacle they had just witnessed. The cheering and stamping of the crowd threatened to bring what was left of the stadium down around them but no one payed it any mind as both Shuyo and Cooler collapsed, their exhausted laughter echoing across the stadium.

After taking a moment to catch their breath both Shuyo and Cooler rose to their feet as their respective corners rushed to their side cheering along with the crowd around them. Grasping each other's hand both warriors lifted their arms into the air in a triumphant show of sportsmanship that only seemed to make the crowd cheer harder than before.

Tarun Ga made his way into the ring his mic at the ready and a huge smile on his face. Running over to both fighters he clapped them both on the back as he passed them "that was phenomenal guys I can't believe what I just saw!"

The Bas referee who had been watching over the fight signalled both Cooler and Shuyo to join him at the center of the cage for the announcement of the winner. Both fighters took a spot beside the stout Bas who waited patiently as Tarun attempted to get the crowd under control.

"Ladies and gentlemen after three rounds of incredible action from these two unbelievable warriors we go to the judges score card for a decision" Tarun called out his voice echoing across the stadium as the crowd fell silent waiting with bated breath for the results. "Judge Quinton Liddell scores this bout twenty-nine to twenty-eight for Cooler!" the crowd erupted into yet another round of cheering before once more quieting down as Tarun prepared to call out the next score. "Judge Chael Silva scores this bout twenty-nine to twenty-eight for Shuyo!" once again the crowd cheered at the announcement before quieting back down for the declaration of the winner. "And finally Judge Connor Diaz scores the bout twenty-eight to twenty eight. Ladies and gentlemen this bout has been declared a draw!"

Normally a draw would only lead to cries of disdain and boos from most crowds, but after watching the war between Shuyo and Cooler the crowd couldn't have asked for a better outcome. There was no loser in this fight and so as both fighters raised their arms to the crowd once more both Shuyo and Cooler basked in the glory of the crowd as they cheered and chanted their names.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **And we are back people really sorry about the tardiness of this chapter but I had to completely redo it as my first draft just wasn't up to snuff in my opinion. Luckily I am more than satisfied with this version not just with Cooler and Shuyo's part but even with Tukkan's section. Now on to the analysis!**

 **One thing I did while preparing for the fight section was getting Shuyo and Cooler's measurements which wasn't as easy as I hoped. Cooler was somewhat easy but I had to look to find Pikkon's height (felt it was best just to have them roughly the same size. When it came to their weights I couldn't find anything on either Frieza or King Cold or Pikkon so I decided to look at other Z-fighters. Did you know that Goku is only 135 lbs… like what?! Son Freaking Goku, muscled saviour of the universe is a friggin bantamweight, blew my mind. Obviously I couldn't have that so I went ahead and just added more realistic weights to both Cooler and Shuyo. For their rankings I basically made their wins up, Cooler actively went to war laying waste to planets so I gave him more one on one wins than Shuyo. For their losses Shuyo has lost to Frieza and Cacao with the No-Contest being against Cooler. For Cooler I felt like a single loss would suffice and in my head it was against his father. I just feel that at some point Cooler would have made a pass at beating King Cold. For the fight itself I basically binge watched a whole bunch of MMA to get in the mood and I think it helped quite a bit as the fight wasn't just a slug fest like we're use to in DBZ.**

 **Fun fact with the first fight being a no-contest and this one being a draw they're still tied guess they'll need another crack at it some other time to see who's best.**

 **For Tukkan's part I had a simple idea in mind, I wanted to really hammer home that Tukkan and Nadan are good friends. On top of that I wanted something good to happen to Nadan to offset what's going to happen when he gets back to The Nemesis… which brings us to our last point Yang.**

 **Yep Yang ate the Fruit of Might and just as a joke I got her power level at about 2200. That's right Weiss' friggin pet bird is stronger than Raditz now. She is going to make Nadan's life a living hell MUAHAHAHA!**

 **In all seriousness I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Next up is going to be everyone's recovery from this night of fun and having to deal with the consequences of drunken parties, starting a relationship, starting a police chase, leaving mystical god fruit unattended and basically destroying an entire stadium. I don't think the gang's gonna be allowed back on Langden after this.**

 **Until next time if you got questions or just want to talk then come at me I can take it! Hope you guys are making the most of summer see you later!**


	23. Chapter 23 - Price Of A Good Time

"You're totally wrong Rai" Tyr said as he flew alongside his friends. After the tournament's conclusion the six of them decided to leave, none of them really felt like sticking around for the ensuing celebrations. It had been a long night for all of them, save for Tukkan who still seemed wide awake as he toyed around with Nadan's datapad.

"I'm many things Tyr and wrong is not of them" Raijin huffed turning his elongated neck towards his Dramon companion. "Shuyo should have won that fight and that's that, rounds two and three should have gone to him" Raijin glared back at Tyr through his deep blue eyes.

"Keep dreaming Rai, round two may have been a tossup but Cooler took round three and I personally scored round one ten to eight for Cooler, that's an easy win on the scorecards" Tyr declared swishing his tail back and forth in agitation.

"Well it's nice that you think that, too bad you're wrong" Raijin shrugged watching with satisfaction as Tyr's scales bristled with indignation. "Weiss will back me up on this, right Weiss?" Raijin turned his head to ask the Frost Demoness who had been following just behind the pair.

"Sorry dolt but I agree with the judges that fight was a tie" Weiss shrugged at the shocked expressions on both boys' faces.

"Traitor! We were both in Shuyo's corner how can you say he didn't win that fight?" Raijin demanded incredulously.

"And why did you call him dolt? I thought you only called me that?" Tyr asked glumly, his shoulders sagging in disappointment.

"First off round one was definitely a ten to eight for Cooler, Shuyo was too tentative and Cooler never let up on his attack. Shuyo had his moments but Cooler made that his round no question." Weiss said as she made her way beside her friends the three of them flying side by side now. "Shuyo definitely took round three and I think he did enough to earn him round two, so considering those would both be ten to nine rounds for Shuyo, that brings the score to twenty-eight to twenty –eight" Weiss stated with a small smirk.

"There's no way Shuyo took round two!" Tyr exclaimed throwing his hands into the air.

"And Cooler did not do enough to earn a ten-eight in the first round" Raijin pouted crossing his arms in defiance.

"Ugh they're still at it" Cooler grumbled from the front of the group. Both he and Shuyo were now leading the way back to The Nemesis, both warriors were in desperate need of rest after their confrontation. While they may have enjoyed their match immensely they couldn't help but think they might have overdone it. Both warriors were battered and bruised and their aching muscles screamed for rest. They still wouldn't have changed a thing though.

"They're kids, they like to argue" Shuyo shrugged. The simple motion elicited a pained wince, he hadn't been this sore in quite some time.

"They have three different opinions they could be at this all night" Cooler stated drily. Turning around Cooler called out to the Konatsian chef at the back of the group having to raise his voice to be heard over the squabbling trio. "Tukkan can you find a way to get them to stop" Cooler was far too tired to deal with this right now.

Tukkan flashed the Frost Prince a quick thumb's up and smile. Pocketing the datapad Tukkan accelerated to catch up to the kids. "Guys guys guys come on there's no need to argue about this" Tukkan said which actually managed to get the trio to stop, much too Cooler's appreciation. "I mean it's pretty obvious that Cooler won that fight." Cooler's eyes snapped open in horror at what the chef just said. "It shouldn't have been even remotely close on the score cards, I don't think those judges could score a fight to save their lives." And just as quickly as the argument was extinguished it was suddenly reignited stronger than ever, now with a fourth participant as the kids fired back with their own opinions.

"Well that worked out splendidly" Shuyo remarked slyly from beside the fuming Frost Demon.

"You know sometimes I forget we're actually traveling with four children not three" Cooler grumbled doing his best to blot out the voices coming from behind him and failing miserably.

"Can't really fault them for having a fun time… Speaking of which with this fight being declared a draw that means we're still tied you know" Shuyo smirked despite the stinging sensation coming from over his eye. Both he and Cooler were in rough shape, bloodied, bruised, cut up and with possible bone fractures, yet neither could think of a better way to spend the evening. So wearing their injuries with honor they pushed onwards hoping to reach The Nemesis soon as both warriors desperately needed the rest.

They didn't have to wait much longer for their wishes to be granted. Passing over a particularly oddly shaped building the group could finally see The Nemesis sitting in the landing zone they left it in hours ago. Shuyo couldn't help but realise that he considered the warship home, his first real home since his master's passing all those years ago. As the group closed in on the matte black warship Shuyo came to a sudden halt catching everyone's attention.

As the others came to a halt as well and turned to approach the stoic monk, Shuyo reached out with his senses. His eyes narrowed as he realised something was amiss, but how? Nadan's security systems were state of the art, and even if they couldn't hold back an intruder it still would have notified Tukkan who had been keeping tabs on Nadan's datapad for the better part of the evening.

Weiss was the first to speak up as the group faced Shuyo who was still trying to get a sense of the situation in the ship. "Shuyo what's wrong?" The Frost Demoness asked looking around in all directions to see what had brought the verdant monk to a halt.

"There's someone aboard the ship" Shuyo muttered locking onto the Ki signature in the ship. At the monk's words everyone turned to face the dormant ship, each one of them trying to get a sense of the situation.

"Holy hell" Tukkan whistled as he locked onto the Ki signature. "Whoever's in there's really moving" he chuckled. The Ki signature was speeding throughout the ship at a blistering pace, but they didn't seem to have any actual destination as they just kept doing laps through the halls.

"Interesting, they're stronger than most of our average soldiers" Cooler stated scratching at his chin in curiosity. He was still getting the hang of sensing energy but Shuyo had turned out to be an excellent teacher, not that the Frost Prince would ever give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Where's Yang?" Weiss mumbled as she searched the ship top to bottom for the tiny spark that was her friend's energy signature. Turning to Shuyo whose senses were far more attuned she looked up at him with a pleading expression. "Shuyo do you feel her anywhere?" Weiss implored a rush of fear streaking through the usually determined young girl.

After taking another moment to scan the entirety of the ship he slowly shook his head. There was no other energies on the ship "I can't feel anything, but she might be in the training room, the walls are made of katchin which is difficult to sense through." He didn't enjoy giving the young girl false hope but it was a possibility, the bird had already proven to be more intelligent than many Shuyo had come across in his travels.

"Well let's stop guessing and see what this nonsense is about" Cooler grumbled moving over to Tukkan who was still tracking the intruder's energy. "You said you have Nadan's datapad right?" Cooler asked to which the chef nodded. "Perfect bring up the camera feeds on the ship let's see who's in there" Cooler commanded.

"Wait you think I actually know how to work this thing?" Tukkan said holding up the datapad in his left hand. "I just know the basics and Nadan has almost everything password protected, this thing's not gonna be much help to us" Tukkan shrugged as he slipped the datapad back into his pocket.

"Fantastic so we have no clue who's in the ship" Cooler grumbled rubbing his sore ribs. "Well guess we're just going to have to go in there and find out ourselves."

"No we'll go check it out" Raijin stated as he moved in front of Cooler to bar the Frost Demon's approach. "You and Shuyo should stay out here you're still dripping blood everywhere last thing we need is for you two to make a mess of the place" the young Zamt held his ground to the intimidating Frost Demon who glared down at him before relenting.

"Very well you three go check the ship we'll be out here making sure there's no other intruders" Cooler sighed touching down on the landing pad. Shuyo and Tukkan landed right beside him as the children activated the entrance ramp to let them in.

As they made their way up the ramp Tyr smacked the door controls sealing the entrance behind them. Upon noticing the questioning looks of his companions the confident Dramon simply shrugged his shoulders "just so whoever it is doesn't try and make a break for it."

"Good idea" Weiss nodded solemnly as she took point leading her friends into their home. Her thoughts were not of the intruder but on Yang, she didn't have the largest energy signature but she still should have been able to sense her… unless. 'No she's fine she's probably just hiding somewhere' Weiss thought to herself trying to shake the dark thoughts away.

Turning around to face her friends who looked back with concern, both Raijin and Tyr knew she was worried about her pet bird but they didn't dare say anything lest they set her off. "Alright feels like they're hiding out in the dining room" both boys nodded in confirmation waiting for the Frost Demoness' plan. "Rai, you and me will go through the front entrance ok?" Raijin nodded in confirmation while Tyr stepped up beside him.

"What do you want me to do?" Tyr asked excitedly his tail flicking outwards in anticipation.

"You're going through the kitchen, you and Tukkan have an entrance back their right?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure do! Pincer maneuver, love it" Tyr exclaimed excitedly hopping up and down. "Let's do this!" He exclaimed taking off down the left hall which would eventually loop around to the kitchen entrance while Raijin and Weiss went right heading to the dining room's entrance.

Weiss and Raijin made it to their destination first taking up position on opposite sides of the closed door waiting for Tyr to get into position. "I guess they can't sense energy like we can" Raijin muttered from his spot.

"Well it's not really a well-known technique, we only just learned how to do it ourselves" Weiss stated from her spot. Feeling Tyr's familiar presence just outside the kitchen Weiss flared her Ki to signal they were ready "alright now!" Weiss exclaimed hitting the door controls. The door snapped open with a soft hiss as the Demoness and Zamt stepped in ready to subdue whoever was in there with them.

"Where are they?" Raijin muttered looking around cautiously. Everything in the dining room seemed normal enough save for the knocked over chairs and tables along with the copious amounts of partially eaten food strewn about.

"Not sure but be on guard, where's Tyr?" Weiss asked as she checked the room. It was somewhere in there with them, if they only they had a better hang of this energy sensing business they could pinpoint the intruder.

Suddenly the door to the kitchen burst open with a tremendous clatter as Tyr rolled into the room. "Alright don't move dirt bag" Tyr exclaimed pointing his fingers across the room as if they were pistols. As Tyr looked around he realised the only people in the room was a startled Raijin and annoyed looking Weiss "wait where are they?" Tyr asked as he let his hands drop to his side in disappointment.

"We don't know, we were in the middle of looking for them when you decided to scare the crap out of us" Weiss pouted as she stalked over to the sheepish looking Dramon accompanied by Raijin who followed just behind her.

Just as Weiss and Raijin joined up with Tyr a sizeable chunk of meat fell from the ceiling clattering against a table and drawing the trio's attention upwards to the disturbance's source. With a sphere of emerald Ki in hand Weiss advanced slowly keeping her eyes trained on an open ventilation duct. "Come out we know you're up there! Don't make me send Tyr in there after you!" Weiss commanded up to the vent where she could now see movement.

The moment Weiss had positioned herself under the open duct she was suddenly bowled over by a bright yellow blur that streaked down from the opening.

"Weiss!" Both boys exclaimed rushing over to aid their downed leader. That was when Weiss' assailant decided to raise itself to its full height forcing both boys to come to a screeching halt at the site of it.

"Holy crap that's a big bird" Tyr gulped as he looked at the creature that was now perched over top of Weiss with its wings spread wide.

"It's yellow" Raijin muttered eyeing the creature closely, recognition slowly dawning on him.

"It's Yang!" Weiss exclaimed ecstatically from underneath the now giant bird. "I was so worried about you girl!" Weiss said as she rubbed her face into the bird's plumage.

"Uh Weiss, don't you think she looks… different?" Raijin asked uneasily as Yang stared down the two boys. True to Raijin's words Yang had seemed to have undergone some kind of metamorphosis in the few hours they had been gone. She now stood almost four feet tall and her yellow feathers had taken on a golden sheen that seemed to glint in the light. Her body itself was now incredibly muscular and her beak and talons were as sharp as daggers.

"I'll say she's different!" Weiss exclaimed excitedly as she crawled out from under her pet. "Look at her feathers they're gorgeous! And oh do you see her talons?! And do you feel that power? That's amazing!" Raijin and Tyr glanced over to each other nervously they were both rather taken aback by Weiss' uncharacteristic giddiness. "Guys could you imagine her in the wild with that power level?" Weiss asked as she nuzzled her cheek against the side of her enhanced friend "who's my alpha predator? You are, yes you are."

"Weiss I don't mean to be the voice of reason but since you're busy I guess I've got no choice" Tyr muttered taking a tentative step forward. The sudden forward movement caught Yang's attention snapping the fierce avian's head in his direction and fixing the young Dramon with a predatory glare. "Uh Weiss, aren't you the least bit curious why she's like this now? I mean we were gone for what five hours tops?" Tyr asked taking a cautious step back all the while keeping his eyes fixed on Yang's.

"Maybe this is normal for her species?" Weiss said as she continued to pet the massive bird beside her. "When Nadan gets back we can ask him to look her over, how about that?"

"Oh yeah I'm sure Nadan's going to love this, she's as big as he is now" Raijin chuckled nervously as Yang dipped her head and began picking at the hunk of meat that she had no doubt stolen from the kitchen.

"Then it's settled" Weiss exclaimed cheerily clapping her hands together. "Raijin go get some towels for Shuyo and Cooler so they don't make a mess on the way to the Bacta Tanks" Weiss commanded to which the Zamt youth was more than happy to oblige. He liked Yang when she was normal sized but this larger version of her was just unsettling. Turning to Tyr Weiss walked forward placing a hand on his shoulder, causing Yang's head to snap to attention. "Tyr you and me are going to clean up this mess while Raijin's doing that ok?" Weiss asked smiling as Yang stared Tyr down from over her shoulder.

"Sure thing" Tyr answered nervously taking a small step away from the bird who slowly lowered her head back down to the meal she had collected. This whole situation was too weird even for his liking.

* * *

"What's taking them so long?" Cooler grunted in annoyance. The kids had now been inside The Nemesis for nearly twenty minutes. Cooler had run out of patience fifteen minutes ago, the only thing stopping him from storming in was the stoic monk beside him.

"I am as curious as you are too see what's inside but I suggest we continue to wait" Shuyo muttered calmly. He had been sitting in a crossed legged position for most of their time outside now and was monitoring what was going on inside as best as he could. Weiss seemed to be in quite the good mood while the boys themselves seemed to be an odd mixture of nervousness and anxiety. "I will say that I hope they come out soon it's getting a little chilly for my tastes" Shuyo smirked up at Cooler who shook his head at the impassive monk.

"Serves you right for leaving your robes at the damn arena" Cooler muttered as Shuyo returned to monitoring what was going on in the ship. Whoever the mystery power level was it must have been friendly as there hadn't been any form of combat or spiked Ki levels. It was strange the harder Shuyo focused on the mystery intruder the more familiar their Ki felt to him but he just couldn't place it.

Shuyo had been so focused on figuring out the familiar Ki signature that he failed to realise that all four power levels were now at the entrance to the ship until the entrance ramp began sliding down. As the ramp descended Cooler, Shuyo and Tukkan gathered in front to watch the group disembark. The three adults were stuck in a stunned silence at what they saw coming down the ramp until Cooler decided to break the hush.

"Alright, what the hell?!" Cooler exclaimed holding his arms forward to indicate the four foot bird standing beside the trio of children.

"It's ok Cooler I can explain!" Weiss quickly cut in stepping in front of Yang who was slowly scanning the landing zone around them.

"You can explain why your bird is as tall as you now?" Cooler grunted in agitation. It was far too late and he was far too tired to be dealing with surprises like this.

"Ok… I guess I can't explain it, but it wasn't an intruder it was just Yang" Weiss stated stroking the side of the golden avian's head.

"You know what? I don't even care right now" Cooler grumbled as he marched forward taking the towels out of Raijin's arms and throwing one to Shuyo. The group had to endure a minute of awkward silence as Shuyo and Cooler made sure they were no longer dripping before Cooler once again broke the silence. "So where is Nadan? Shuyo and I need the Bacta Tanks" Cooler asked as he turned to face Tukkan.

"I actually don't know where he is, but he said he'd be back by morning" Tukkan shrugged.

"Great, we both need the tanks and none of us know how to operate them" Cooler grumbled in annoyance. From beside him Shuyo couldn't help but smirk, underneath the rough and pompous exterior Cooler wasn't such a bad person, he was just easy to aggravate at times.

"I know how to work the tanks" Raijin stated stepping forward garnering shocked expressions from everyone.

"You do? Since when?" Tyr demanded eyeing his Zamt friend in surprise.

"Since we left Hermos, Nadan thought more than one of us should know how to work the machines" Raijin said as he gently scratched the back of his elongated neck.

"Excellent, then it's settled Raijin will prepare the Bacta tanks for Shuyo and myself" Cooler stated placing a hand atop the young Zamt's head. "Weiss I expect you to keep an eye on Tyr and your bird, make sure they don't burn down the ship" Cooler pointed over to Weiss who nodded in confirmation. "And Tukkan I want you to… Where the hell did he go?" Cooler demanded looking around for the Konatsian Chef.

"He said something about stretching his legs and then he flew away, I'm sure he'll be back" Shuyo said nonchalantly as he boarded the ship with his towel still slung over his shoulder.

"Fine, I just want this day to be over with already" Cooler grunted as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He and Shuyo entered first followed closely by Raijin who was frantically trying to recall everything Nadan had taught him about operating the Bacta Tanks. Following them was Weiss who walked along with a cheerful spring in her step, today had turned out to be even better than expected for her. Just behind her was Yang who, with her newly developed legs, was following just behind her at a steady pace. And bringing up the rear was Tyr who could have sworn that the golden bird was purposefully keeping him separated from Weiss. With a flick of his tail Tyr pressed the button to close the door to ship just as he did before and with a low hiss it sealed shut for the night.

* * *

"This game makes no sense" Tyr groaned from his seat. It had now been a few hours since their return home and the trio were all wide awake. Raijin was busy in the med lab keeping a close eye on both Shuyo and Cooler while they healed. Tyr and Weiss just couldn't seem to get to sleep, both of them still wired from their exciting evening. To try and help pass the time, and get Tyr to pass out, Weiss decided to attempt to show him how to play Galactic Champions. The results may have been less than successful but they were at the very least amusing for the Frost Demoness.

"It makes perfect sense dolt" Weiss chided playfully as she pointed to one of the cards off to the side. "See I activated the battleground card Planet Voon, therefore any champion below a certain power level is unable to attack due to the heightened gravity" Weiss stated with a smile at the young Dramon's souring disposition.

"But my guy's in a mech suit! He should be able to handle ten times gravity" Tyr grumbled in annoyance. In truth Tyr had no problem with the game itself, he was actually enjoying the time with Weiss the only problem was the third presence keeping a close eye on them. Yang was perched atop one of the light fixtures and was keeping a close watch on both kids but Tyr could swear he spotted the bird giving him intense glares out of the corner of his eye.

Picking up on Tyr's tension Weiss turned to Yang with a smile "hey girl can you go check on Raijin for us make sure he's doing ok?" A moment passed before Yang spread her wings wide and with a sharp cry took to the air and sped off towards the med lab where Raijin was busy keeping his vigil. "There better?" Weiss asked with a playful flick of her tail.

"Much, what's her deal?" Tyr sighed, slumping over with a scowl. "Ever since she got… big, she's been eyeing me up like she wants to nom me or something."

"What's the matter dolt scared of my bird" Weiss giggled at the unimpressed look on Tyr's face. "Look she's just a little overprotective right now, I'm sure it'll pass" Weiss said as she double checked some of her facedown cards.

"It better, last thing I need is…" Tyr trailed off his ears twitching as he picked up on a familiar sound.

"What is it?" Weiss asked setting her cards down and straining her own ears.

"Someone just opened the main hatch" Tyr muttered, his scales beginning to spread until he overheard the sound of two voices speaking in hushed voices. "Never mind it's just Frieza and Aayla" Tyr sighed, sitting back down in his seat along with Weiss.

"They're getting back really late, do you think their date went well?" Weiss asked eagerly leaning forward. She could just make out their energy signatures and it felt like they would pass the door to the dining room at any moment.

"Why do you care so-" Tyr was cut off by a soft giggling from outside the dining room, both kids looked at each other in shock. It wasn't that Aayla never laughed, it was just they had never heard such a feminine giggle coming from the battle hardened Securan. In all honesty it was kind of unnerving.

Both figures stumbled into view passing by the entrance with all the grace the inebriated pair could muster. Both seemed to have their arms around the other trying to keep themselves upright. They came to a sudden halt as the slouched form of Frieza murmured something that Weiss couldn't pick up but turned Tyr's complexion crimson as he clamped his hands over his ears. Sometimes having heightened hearing was not worth the trouble that came with it.

"Tempting, but how about we save it for the third date, can't make things too easy on you now can I?" Aayla chuckled as the two began stumbling forward once again. Weiss might not have heard what Frieza said but Aayla's reply painted a pretty clear picture and just like Tyr her cheeks were now a bright scarlet as she tried to scrub the mental images out of her mind.

"To answer your question Weiss, yes I think their date went great" Tyr grimaced trying his best to forget what he had overheard.

* * *

Pain, indescribable, atrocious unlike anything Frieza had ever experienced coursed through his head as his eyes slowly creaked open. "What the hell happened last night?" Frieza groaned as he tried to right himself. Closing his eyes once more the memories of the previous night, most of them anyways, started to seep back into his consciousness. Never again Frieza thought to himself bitterly trying to stop the piercing pain in his temples.

Frieza's eyes snapped open once more and he immediately regretted that decision as the room he was in was nothing more than a blurred spinning mess of colours. Placing both hands on either side of his head Frieza massaged his temples as the room around him slowly came back into focus. How he made it into his sleeping quarters, he wasn't sure but he seriously doubted it was by his own devices. Gingerly removing the blankets that had been draped over him, Frieza slowly got to his feet only to fall to a knee as the room began to tilt once more.

A sudden knock at his door snapped Frieza's head upwards bringing with it a powerful wave of nausea. It took a moment to compose himself enough to try speaking and his first attempt was more of a haggard gasp than actual words. "You may enter" Frieza finally managed to say loud enough to be overheard, his voice was shaky and there was a low rasp to it as Frieza tried to regulate his breathing.

The normally silent door slid open with a hiss that, to the badly hung over Frieza, sounded like a ship's engine coming to life. In the frame of the doorway, looking completely unfazed by the previous night's affairs stood Aayla. "Hey hun how's it going?" she asked cheerily looking down at the pained Frost Prince.

"Peachy" Frieza grunted as he got to his feet and staggered to his bathroom door. Aayla watched from her spot in the doorway with a smile as Frieza hobbled along, wincing when he impacted against the wall just to the left of the door and crumbled into a heap. Frieza was tempted to just lay there rather than face the world around him however Aayla seemed to have other ideas in mind as she quickly made her way over and helped the Frost Prince back to his feet.

"Come on let's get you cleaned up, you kinda stink" Aayla chuckled as she guided Frieza into his ensuite bathroom and subsequently into the shower itself.

"How?" Frieza groaned as Aayla propped him up in the shower making extra sure he wouldn't topple over.

"How what?" Aayla asked while she rummaged around for body wash.

"How are you completely fine? You drank more than I did last night?" Frieza mumbled placing his head against the cool tiles of the shower stall.

"Oh that, I guess I just have a little more experience than you when it comes to drinking" replied Aayla, she had found the body wash and was now searching for a wash cloth and towels.

"I doubt that" Frieza grumbled painfully.

"Let me rephrase, you primarily drink expensive wines and fancy drinks like that, I have more experience with the harder stuff" Aayla commented drily. It was true she had plenty of experience with harder liquors, such was the price for having adaptive cellular mutations and being labeled a freak and an outcast. Her own people drove her to some very rough nights and her biology made it so it became harder and harder to get drunk over time.

Frieza must have picked up on the bitter memories emanating from Aayla, or maybe he just didn't want to open his mouth, as he took that moment to remain silent as Aayla walked over to him and handed him the body wash and wash cloth. "Now can I trust you to clean yourself off?" Aayla asked while she propped the towel on the hook beside the shower for easy access.

"I am the most powerful being in the universe I think I can handle a shower" Frieza grumbled, some of his normal bravado returning to him.

"Excellent, meet me in the dining room when you're done" Aayla chimed in as she cranked the handle on the shower before speeding out of the room with a mischievous grin on her face. That should clear his head she thought to herself with a smirk across her face. Aayla had just barely made it out of the room when the cry of shock and anger echoed throughout the ship as Frieza was doused with ice cold water.

Frieza had been in the shower for close to thirty minutes before finally leaving and just as Aayla had requested he was now on a beeline for the dining room. Stalking his way through the halls Frieza was beside himself with fury, while yes the cold really shouldn't have bothered him it had completely taken the Frost Prince by surprise. Begrudgingly he had to admit that Aayla was right, his head was far clearer now and the headache that previously threatened to rip his head in two had now dissipated almost entirely.

Stomping his way into the dining room Frieza was quickly greeted by Tyr who seemed far more chipper than usual, the boy was definitely not a morning person. "Hey Frieza how was your night?" He asked excitedly with an air of excitement that left Frieza mildly suspicious, he only ever spoke like this when he was trying to cover something up. Frieza would normally press him on the matter but the Frost Prince really was not up for it this morning.

"Fantastic, I don't think I'll ever do it again" Frieza deadpanned as he made his way to the table taking his spot at the head. There was already a cup of steaming caf laid out for him which he gladly took feeling the burning liquid coarse down his throat.

"So Frieza what do you want for breakfast?" Tukkan called out cheerily from the kitchen. The Konatsian chef had been out for most of the night but came back with a quite a few baskets of local food that he wanted to try out. On a city planet like Langden there was always a store open.

"Surprise me" Frieza said with a sigh. Frieza closed his eyes as he tried to go over what happened the night before. He remembered most of it right up to the few minutes after his contest with Aayla, after that it all became something of a blur. Speaking of the temptress and that contest a sudden flush rushed into Frieza's cheeks as he remembered how she had claimed victory, and what she would subsequently take as her prize. Needless to say Frieza would have to figure out a way to get her back for that.

The clinking of silverware and the wafting odour of spiced meats brought Frieza back to the present as Tukkan laid out his breakfast before him. Looking down at the new dish before him Frieza could only feel a surge of trepidation at what he saw. He had laid out a few bite sized foodstuffs that Frieza could only assume were some sort of bread, though that was rather unclear as they were bright red in colour and seemed to pulse. But it was the meat he had laid out that really caught his attention "Tukkan are you positive you prepared this correctly?" Frieza asked poking the dish before him tentatively.

"Pretty sure, granted I've never actually prepared this stuff before" Tukkan shrugged as he laid out a side of toast and butter.

"Alright but is the meat supposed to be… Is this purple?" Frieza asked uncertainly, he took a quick slice out of the meat which had the same colouration on the inside as it did on the out.

"Actually it's a specific shade of purple called sangria and according to the recipe I was following it's supposed to be like that" Tukkan explained. "I'll be right back let me just get Weiss her breakfast" Tukkan said as he rushed back into the kitchen just as the Frost Demoness walked in, she sported a pair of bags under each eye, no doubt from staying up all evening.

"Good morning Frieza" Weiss yawned as she took her place at the table right beside her mentor. No sooner had she taken her seat than Tukkan came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of freshly scrambled eggs, various spiced meats that Frieza recognized as her favourite and a full pitcher of bright red fruit juice. Looking from the girl's plate of perfectly normal breakfast cuisine to his own he couldn't help but glare down the chef as he set down a second pitcher of juice.

"Good morning my dear… Tukkan a word" Frieza stated with narrowing eyes.

"Sure, what's up?" Tukkan asked cheerily leaning on another chair as he did so.

"Why is Weiss getting the normal breakfast but I'm getting your more… experimental dish?" Frieza asked setting his cutlery down for the moment.

"Well I thought you might like to expand your palette, if you want I can make you something a little more boring" he replied with his trademark grin.

"No that won't be necessary, I'll give this a shot, however if this poisons me it's on you" Frieza stated as he turned back around to his unique dish only to find it missing. "Where the hell…?" Frieza began but trailed off as he noticed the third arrival to the table, which was busy tearing into the last of the Frost Prince's meal. Turning to his right Frieza locked his questioning gaze with Weiss who was now stood perfectly still trying to appear like nothing was wrong with the universe.

"My dear… what is that?" Frieza asked cagily.

"Oh that's um… Yang" Weiss muttered with a mouth full of toast.

"Maybe it's the hang over but I don't recall your bird being three feet tall" Frieza said crossing his arms awaiting her reply.

"She's actually about four feet tall now, she's just a little slouched over" Weiss responded trying to make light of the situation. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but if she could convince Frieza to let her take the bird as a pet the first time around, surely she could convince him that another few feet was nothing to worry about.

"I don't care if she's eight feet tall, the point is why is she so damn big?" Frieza demanded he really wasn't up for this right now.

"We don't know how she got so big we just got back and she was like this" Weiss stammered trying to keep her composure. The sound of clicking brought both of their attentions over to Yang who was making her way across the surface of the table towards Weiss. Frieza could have sworn that he saw the bird flash Tyr, who was suspiciously sitting across the room, a glare before coming to a halt beside her owner.

"Why hasn't Nadan taken a look at her yet then?" Frieza asked, watching wearily as Yang grabbed a slice of toast from the pile with her now javelin-like beak.

"We don't really know where he is" Weiss said cradling her tail in her arms uneasily. She could tell Frieza wasn't in the greatest of moods and she had no way of knowing how he would proceed.

"So our chief science officer is missing? Then who was in the lab? I saw the lights on when I passed by" Frieza asked in confusion.

"Oh that was Raijin, he's been monitoring Shuyo and Cooler since last night" Weiss replied back.

"Why is he monitoring them" Frieza groaned pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. He was getting very tired of all this back and forth as every answer just seemed to raise more questions.

"Well he needs to make sure the Bacta Tank's settings are just right to make sure they heal properly" Weiss commented while she took a bite out of her eggs.

"And why do they need to heal at all?" Frieza muttered already having a good idea about what he was about to hear.

"They went at it pretty hard last night, they may have done some serious damage to each other" Weiss said but upon seeing the dark look passing over her mentor's face she quickly tried to explain. "It's not like their normal fighting, this was regulated and everything, that tournament they went too turned out to be incredibly dull, so they decided to put on a real show" Weiss said in a panicked rush.

"Of course they did" Frieza grumbled in annoyance. Looking back to his empty plate Frieza called out to Tukkan who had re-entered the kitchen by that point "Tukkan get me another plate of whatever that was!"

"See I told you you'd like it!" Tukkan replied cheerfully from his workstation unaware that Yang was the only one to attempt the food. But since the bird still seemed to be standing Frieza decided to take the risk and try it himself.

Pinching the bridge of his nose once more Frieza leaned forward, it hadn't even been an hour since he woke up and he already wanted to return to his bed. And where was Aayla? She had told him they would meet up in the dining room yet she was nowhere to be found. As if on cue Aayla's somewhat sardonic voice echoed in from the corridors outside.

"Look Nad I don't know what you want me to do about them" Aayla spoke into her communicator as she strolled in, a frown marring her normally stunning features. "Well they say they got most of what you asked for but they didn't say what" another pause as Aayla listened for the reply. "Look why don't you just get back here and look at it yourself…? Well how long is that going to ta-" Aayla trailed off as her eyes locked on the massive bird standing on their dining table.

"Later!" Weiss mouthed trying to give the Securan Warrior a reassuring smile.

With a quick shake of her head she returned to her conversation "sorry about that, how long did you say it would take you to get back?" Another long stretch of silence passed by as Aayla listened intently. "Fine just hurry, ok? See you in a bit" Aayla finished with a sigh closing her communicator and shoving it into her pocket with a little more force than intended.

"Should I even ask?" Frieza asked with a smirk, a part of him enjoyed seeing the annoyed look on his partner's face from time to time. It was nice to see that someone else's morning was not going according to plan.

"Well Nadan should be back in a few minutes from wherever he ran off to last night, in the meantime ambassador Qliph's errand boys just arrived with a bunch of crates and I don't have a clue what's in them or if we even need it." Aayla sighed walking over to Frieza and planting a small kiss on his forehead bringing a crimson glow to the Frost Demon's cheeks and an excited squeal from Weiss.

"See I told you going out was a good idea!" Weiss exclaimed excitedly almost bumping into Yang with her exuberant celebration.

"Ahem, yes well…" Frieza began but soon trailed off when he realised he had no reply for his protégée. She was right, Frieza had no regrets about the previous night, save for the mind splitting headache that would followed it.

Sensing the Frost Prince's trepidation Aayla cut in with a snap of her fingers to get everyone's attention. "Alright I'm through waiting why the hell Yang is so damn big?" Aayla asked as she took a seat grabbing a slice of toast along the way.

"We have no clue, all the more reason for Nadan to get back here now" Frieza sighed, tapping the table in anticipation of the Malakan's return. "So you said we would meet up for breakfast what took you?" Frieza asked with another smirk as he watched the frown return to the Securan's face.

"Two things actually" Aayla sighed before popping what was left of her toast into her mouth. A few seconds passed as she finished swallowing, leaving both seated Frost Demons waiting for her reply. "First Qliph's guys showed up with that delivery and they wanted to try and load everything in here themselves, I was not about to let that happen this early in the morning" Aayla grumbled in annoyance.

"And the second reason?" Frieza asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh you are going to love this" Aayla replied with a sadistic grin that somewhat unnerved the Frost Prince. Reaching into one of her pockets she fished out a datapad and after a few moments of punching in commands slid the pad over to Frieza who slowly picked it up.

"This can't be right" Frieza muttered in a strange mix of astonishment and horror.

"You're right it's very wrong, but those numbers are correct" Aayla leaned back beginning to munch on yet another slice of toast. "Hey what's taking Tukkan so long? He usually pretty quick with the food" Aayla inquired as she leaned over to grab a glass and the pitcher filled with the red fruit juice.

Aayla's inquiry fell on deaf ears though as Frieza skimmed through the contents on the datapad. What he was looking at represented a very large sum of his family's massive fortune, so why was it so damned low?! Scanning through the recent activity Frieza found the culprits, eight thousand credits to the Bedlam's Steakhouse, curtesy of Weiss' card but that amount paled in comparison to the one and a half billion credits that went towards the Langden Phoenix Arena.

"What is this?" Frieza muttered doing his best to control his temper and resist the urge to blow something, or someone up.

Peaking over his shoulder Weiss spotted the two hefty transactions and paled at the amounts. "I think the arena charge might be from Cooler and Shuyo, they kind of wrecked the entire place when they fought" Weiss answered hoping Frieza wouldn't pay her charge much mind when compared to the staggering amount from the arena.

"Why the hell are we being charged for it?" Frieza hissed, his migraine making a comeback.

"I think it was Shuyo, I saw him speaking with the owner after their fight" Weiss answered nervously. She could tell Frieza was moments away from losing all composure.

"That's it I'm taking away Shuyo's credit chip, and he is going to return every credit" Frieza muttered angrily.

"How's he going to do that? He's a nomadic monk he doesn't exactly have money" Aayla chuckled. She had to admit sometimes it was fun to watch Frieza get all wound up. "Besides it's not really that big of a hit only about three percent of your total" Aayla commented with a wave of her hand.

Before Frieza could respond a sharp beep drew everyone's attention back to Aayla. Reaching down she pulled out her communicator and began reading the message she had just received. "Nadan's back, he's just outside, he wants us to go see him" Aayla said with a sigh, grabbing another piece of toast as she placed her communicator back in her pocket.

As soon as Aayla had made her announcement the doors to the kitchen slammed open and Tukkan rushed out with a wide grin on his face. "Meet you guys out there!" The energized chef called back as he left the dining area all together.

"I'm not going to get a damn meal today am I?" Frieza grumbled in annoyance. Meal or not he could still grab some of the remaining toast on the way out to meet Nadan. However luck was not on his side as he turned to see the last piece of toast vanish as Aayla popped it into her mouth in front of his very eyes.

"Oops sorry hun" she grinned mischievously as Frieza's head slammed against the table and his stomach groaned for sustenance.

He never should have gotten out of bed.

* * *

"Look I'm telling you I need to know what you actually brought us, I won't just shove useless trash onto my ship! You must have a manifest or a supply list." Nadan had only been around now for about five minutes since returning from Etain's residence, he had now been in an argument with ambassador Qliph's delivery men for four of those minutes.

"Look pal I'm just the deliverer, I ain't get paid enough to know what's in them crates" Shik, the portly delivery man replied.

Ignoring the man's utter lack of grammatical articulation, Nadan continued to push his point "then open up the crates and show me what's in them this instant" Nadan demanded stomping his foot down. The action merely garnered some amused chuckles from the assembled workers around him.

"Look that ain't happening, just sign for your junk so we can be on our way" Shik replied with a scowl. The Malakan scientist was really getting on his nerves. "Look what do you have to worry about, you think someone slipped a bomb into your junk?" Shik chortled at the bristling scientist before him.

"As a matter of fact yes I am rather concerned there could be a bomb in there, or perhaps some form of chemical weapon or maybe a highly contagious nano- virus!" Nadan exclaimed trying to get his point across to the dullards before him. Unfortunately all his paranoid insinuations seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as not one of them was looking at him.

"Hey Nad how's it going!?" Tukkan exclaimed with unbridled enthusiasm running to his friend from the main entrance of The Nemesis.

"I've been better" Nadan grumbled indignantly. "I just need to check what's in the crates but they say they won't open them.

"Pfft that's it? Let me handle it buddy" Tukkan grinned as he took off to the assembled crates. Part of Nadan wanted to warn Tukkan to be gentle with the shipment, but upon seeing the Konatsian Chef's giddiness Nadan realised that it would have been a waste of breath.

"There see your pal's taking care of it, now can you sign this so we can get going?" Shik asked shoving his datapad towards Nadan once again.

"Fine" Nadan relented as he grabbed the datapad and signed on the dotted line. "There happy?" Nadan asked with a hint of a sneer in his voice.

"Yep fine, we'll get out of your hair, see ya!" Shik spat out in a panic before sprinting away from the ship, his fellow deliverymen following just behind him in a mad dash. Turning around to see what had scared the workers so badly Nadan saw Frieza leading Weiss and Aayla down the entrance ramp.

"I find it fascinating to watch people's reactions to you my Lord" Nadan said with a smirk.

"I would have to agree, you never know quite what you get each time" Frieza chuckled darkly as he stood beside Nadan. Both of them were taking the time to watch Tukkan open each and every crate like a child would his birthday presents. "Well he seems to be having fun" Frieza commented drily eliciting a chuckle from Nadan.

As his chuckle died down Nadan looked up to Frieza with a small smirk "well it is one of his more charming qualities my Lo-"

"Hey Nad check this out!" Tukkan called out from amidst the crates that now lay scattered about the landing platform in disarray. Deciding it was best just to go see what had attracted Tukkan's attention Nadan and the others walked over to his position unsure of what the chef had found.

"Tadaa!" Tukkan exclaimed gesturing to a pile of machinery on the ground. Though it looked to have been disassembled for the delivery Frieza recognized some of the parts from back on Hermos.

"Is that?" Frieza began uncertainly before Nadan jumped up in excitement cutting him off.

"It's a Z-40t Walkon hyperdrive!" Nadan exclaimed excitedly rushing over to inspect all the equipment. "I can't believe they actually came through with it! And it's brand new, never been used this is sensational!" A ripple of excitement passed through the entire group as Nadan's words sank in. No longer would it take them weeks to traverse the small distances they had been dealing with for months. On top of that the strain the primary engines had been sustaining to keep them going would now be alleviated and that power could be redirected to other systems.

Most importantly though they could now cover far more ground and Frieza knew that the more places they visited the more likely they would have to come across Earth. It was still a long shot to find the Saiyan's home planet but at least now they actually had a semblance of a chance.

"Alright we can finally get moving!" Tukkan exclaimed with a grin. "Want me to get this stuff aboard for you buddy?" Tukkan asked bending down to look over the equipment before him.

"Not necessary I already have my drones on the way to load up everything, thanks for helping" Nadan said as he closely inspected some of the machinery.

Out of the corner of his eye Tukkan could see Frieza and Aayla speaking to each other both seemed absorbed in their conversation. Taking his chance with what little privacy they had Tukkan rested and elbow on Nadan's shoulder. "Speaking of helping, how was last night?" Tukkan grinned as Nadan's back straightened at the question, he always knew just how to push the Malakan's buttons.

"It was a pleasant evening, we discussed the theory on some of her anti-matter theorems, we talked a little about what I do on the ship and a little bit about the research center she wants to join up with" Nadan stated rather woodenly much to Tukkan's disappointment.

"Wait that's it?" Tukkan asked scratching the back of his neck in surprise.

"Yes it was all very professional we didn't stop talking until it was quite late and she offered to let me stay the night, I felt it would be rude not to" Nadan replied as he continued to inspect the hyperdrive equipment.

"Well at least you had fun, I guess" Tukkan said as he stood back up to his full height. "Hey you must be starving want me to get you some breakfast ready?" Tukkan asked just as he began heading back to the ship.

"That would be much appreci – AHHHHHHH!" Nadan's howl of terror snapped everyone's attention to him. Tukkan almost fell over in hysterics upon seeing his best friend trapped underneath the massive plumage of Yang as she stood perched atop his head. "What are you waiting for? Get it off me! Get it off me!" Nadan cried out as the weight of the bird pressed down upon him.

Weiss was the first to react quickly flying over to extricate her pet from Nadan's head. Nadan fell over in complete shock, rubbing his now incredibly sore neck in the process. "Sorry Nadan!" She exclaimed trying her best to sound apologetic, while simultaneously trying to stifle her laughter. "Before you fix the hyperdrive, could you take a look at Yang, she seems to be a little… different" Weiss smiled at the flabbergasted look on the scientist's face.

As the shock wore away Nadan straightened himself up and began adjusting his ruffled clothing. "Of course my dear, let's go take a look now, my drones will take care of the rest" Nadan stated as he walked forward with Weiss and Yang in tow.

Just as Nadan passed Tukkan the chef spotted something that made him grin from ear to ear. Nadan had covered it up quite well with the collar of his jacket, but Yang landing on his head must have shifted his clothing around. Now, plain as day and very easy to spot, were a series of red marks running along the Malakan's neck. "You sly devil" Tukkan whispered while crossing his arms in a show of satisfaction "very professional indeed."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey everyone so I can't apologize enough for how long this took to come out. It's been a pretty rough two weeks for me personally. One thing I feel I need to tell you all is I'm heading back to university in a few days now so it's going to be harder for me to continue with weekly updates. By no means does this mean I'm stopping it just might take longer to produce chapters, juggling school, work and a social life is a real pain in the ass. All I can hope is that you can continue to be patient with me over the next few months as you have been you guys have just been fantastic all around.**

 **I don't usually ask this but for this chapter I'm really hoping you guys can let me know how you felt about it. Whether it was good or bad and where it needs improvements. Maybe it's just been these last few weeks but I'm feeling a little self-conscious with this chapter in particular.**

 **Other than that not much to say tried to have one last lighthearted chapter before we get into the darker territory ahead of us. The next arc I have planned is a movie villain, won't say who but you'll know for sure by the end of next chapter and I am kinda happy I finally get to write this section. If all goes according to plan there will be plenty of action, drama and character development that will really propel everyone forward.**

 **Once again I have to apologize for how late this was but I thank you all for sticking with me. Hope you all had a good summer.**

 **Until next time everyone**


	24. Chapter 24 - Heart to Villainous Hearts

"Fascinating" Nadan mumbled to himself while he looked over the readings on his datapad.

"What's fascinating?" Weiss asked nervously from across the room. She had brought Yang into Nadan's lab nearly an hour ago for study and their findings seemed to have been negligible at best. Every minute that went by only seemed to strengthen Nadan's curiosity in Yang's seemingly unnatural growth.

"This may sound strange but there's really nothing to be fascinated about" Nadan stated cryptically turning away from Yang, who was resting on an examination table. She was sedated and held down with thick leather straps for her own safety and to keep her docile during the procedures.

"What does that mean?" Raijin inquired looking up from the blood sample he was looking over.

"We have yet to detect a single anomaly. Her genetic structure is completely solid, we have detected no foreign entities, no cellular tampering and no sudden unnatural mutations" Nadan stated, setting down his datapad and giving Yang a soft pat on the head.

"It's as if she naturally grew to this size in the few hours we were gone, her body structure implies that this is what she would look like in her adolescence" Raijin chimed in as he handed over the bloodwork over to Nadan to look over. "Blood's clean too, nothing out of the ordinary apart from slightly higher than normal iron levels" Raijin continued with a shrug.

"So you think she just hit a growth spurt while we were gone?" Weiss asked uncertainly. She walked over to Yang who seemed to be coming around. Her unfocused eyes tried to lock on to Weiss' but she soon closed them as she passed in and out of consciousness.

"It's possible but I don't think so. Even if this is natural growth, and I use those words loosely, there must have been some form of catalyst to spark the change" Nadan theorized as he began pacing around his lab. This whole situation was a mystery and if there was one thing Nadan enjoyed more than science it was a good mystery.

"Well we can write off any kind of mutations, her system shows no signs of radiation or genetic tampering. There were no intruders on the ship, Aayla checked over the systems and the ship wasn't opened until we arrived so no one did this to her either" Raijin stated counting off the different methods on his spindly fingers.

"Precisely and she didn't accidently inject herself with any chemicals, we checked her skin, no incisions or punctures to speak of" Nadan confirmed, his brow creasing in growing concern. "Perhaps her skin could have healed during that timeframe… no we'd still have detected various chemicals in her system so we can rule that out."

"Maybe she ate something of yours?" Weiss asked worriedly. While she was initially overjoyed by Yang's sudden growth spurt it now left her with a growing sense of unease, what if something was seriously wrong with her? The fact that both Nadan and Raijin seemed to be stumped only made her worry more.

"Raijin thought of that already so we checked her stomach contents, there was nothing in there but meat, whatever Tukkan tried to feed Lord Frieza and some… fruit…" Nadan trailed off as a horrifying idea struck him. Spinning around the Malakan prodigy rushed over to the far side of the room where he normally kept his more advanced research equipment. "Where is it? Where is it?" Nadan muttered to himself moving machines over and shoving research notes clear off the table in his hurried search.

"What's he looking for?" Weiss asked Raijin who could only shrug, he had no clue what the agitated scientist was looking for either. They rarely saw Nadan get this panicked, agitated most definitely, but never truly panicked like this.

Nadan kept at his frenetic search for almost two whole minutes searching every nook and cranny of his lab until he came to a sudden halt while looking behind his miniature centrifuge. Both kids exchanged hesitant looks before stepping forward to see what the Malakan prodigy had found. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Weiss asked tentatively, she wasn't the most adept at dealing with Nadan when he was in such a frantic mood, then again no one was save for Tukkan.

Without saying a word Nadan slowly turned around, a grim expression plastered on his face, as he hoisted what appeared to be a tattered sheet of thin, red paper before them. "I found the problem" Nadan said his voice just barely above a hoarse whisper.

"What's that?" Weiss asked nervously, Nadan looked like he was about to explode.

"Back on Bogden I asked Nadan to inspect the Tree of Might, while there he managed to obtain the last two fruits. In order to save Aayla, Tukkan was forced to eat one of the fruits to increase his power, the other he handed to me for study" Nadan explained his voice returning to its normal pitch. "This…" Nadan stated, holding out the red tatters "is all that remains of that last fruit." Dropping the remains of the Fruit of Might to the ground Nadan glared at Weiss who shrank back, the short scientist could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be. "Your pet ate one of the most interesting discoverys I have ever come across" Nadan hissed angrily trying to keep his anger down to the best of his ability.

"I'm s-sure she didn't mean it" Weiss stammered apologetically. Nadan's scowl deepened as he turned to face the still slumbering bird, seeing Nadan's expression caused Weiss already ivory skin to blanche. "Please don't dissect her!" Weiss panicked jumping in between Yang and Nadan holding her arms out to shield her friend.

Nadan sighed pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance "I'm not going to dissect her, I won't even perform any tests on her."

"Really?" Raijin asked in surprise.

"We already did about every test we could on her, clearly the fruit bestows its supply of energy and then exits the recipients system without leaving anything behind" Nadan stated turning away from both Weiss and Yang and heading back over to his research station. "If I had to say it seems that in order to offset that sudden surge in energy Yang's body adapted and shifted to her adolescent form to compensate" Nadan continued before falling into an uncomfortable silence. The silence that followed was deafening as neither Weiss nor Raijin wanted to say anything lest they set off the possibly volatile Malakan.

"Is he going to be ok?" Weiss whispered to Raijin nervously. She really hoped Nadan wasn't too mad, the scientist had always been nice to her since she joined with Frieza and the rest of them.

"I think so, once he gets over the shock of the whole situation I think he'll be fine" Raijin replied, his own voice just barely audible. Walking over to Yang, Raijin quickly unbuckled the straps that kept Yang tied down, during Nadan's outburst she must have regained consciousness as her sharp eye was now wide open. Yang slowly rose to her feet looking around the room cautiously before her gaze came to rest on a nervous Raijin. "S-sorry about the restraints, couldn't have you moving while we were examining you" Raijin stammered nervously.

Without breaking eye contact Yang leaned in and poked Raijin in the center of his forehead with her sharp beak before hopping down to stand beside Weiss. "I think she likes you" Weiss laughed at the bemused look on the young Zamt's face. Weiss ran her hand down Yang's golden plumage with a loving smile that the bird returned by nuzzling her head against the Frost Demoness.

"Excellent now we just need her to like Tyr" Raijin chuckled. It was pretty clear that Yang, for whatever reason, did not enjoy Tyr's company.

"That would be nice, but I don't think Yang likes the dolt very much" Weiss sighed as she continued to stroke the content avian. "Where is he anyway?" Weiss asked, she had expected Tyr to be there with them but shortly after Nadan's return he seemed to have disappeared.

"He's with Tukkan in the kitchen" Nadan grumbled irritably as he walked by, all the while collecting his discarded notes and research papers from the floor. The scowl on his face was intimidating enough to give even the toughest warriors pause.

"Wonder what they're talking about?" Weiss chuckled as she bent over to help Nadan collect his strewn about work leaving Raijin and Yang behind to watch as the Demoness tried to make things up to the Malakan scientist.

* * *

"Hey Tuk, can I ask you about something?" Tyr inquired from the grilling station he was overseeing.

"Sure thing little man, what'd you want to know?" Tukkan replied cheerily from the center of the kitchen. He was propped up on top of the massive island in the center of the room reading through various recipes on his datapad trying to figure out tonight's dinner. He wanted to try something new that everyone could try and hopefully not poison them all in the process.

"Well it's… you see I was wondering… you seem to know about… ugh I suck at this" Tyr complained throwing his head back in frustration. This brought Tukkan's full attention to the seemingly distraught boy. Besides himself, Tyr was the most laid back member of the crew, such displays of negativity were not uncommon with Frieza or Nadan but with the young Dramon it was almost unheard of.

"Woah woah woah calm down buddy" Tukkan tried to placate the exasperated Dramon as he walked over to check on him. "Take a few deep breaths and start from the top" the Konatsian Chef said with a reassuring smile.

"Ok… so… so what do you know about… girls?" Tyr muttered, his cheeks glowing bright red.

"Girls you say?" Tukkan asked rigidly, that was not what he had been expecting.

"Yeah like how do you know if you like them and stuff like that?" Tyr asked his scales spreading across his face involuntarily.

Tukkan straightened up adopting a serene look of contemplation as he mulled over Tyr's question. This was a stark contrast to what was going on inside the chef's head though. _What does he mean by liking them and stuff?_ Tyr asked himself, the voice in his head laced with panic as he tried to figure out how to proceed. Responsibility was not the chef's strong suit and neither was serious conversations, he was completely out of his element here.

 _Well he's nine right? So still too young for The Talk… right?_ Another, identical voice asked with uncertainty.

 _Well isn't that something his parents should take care of?_ The first voice asked hopelessly.

 _He's an orphan you dink he has no parents!_ The second voice reprimanded coldly.

 _For what it's worth he's got us,_ a third, more timid sounding voice echoed in Tukkan's head adding to the back and forth debate.

 _Right he has us, plus we don't have to give him the big details_ , voice two stated taking command of the situation. _Just ask him to clarify and we can work from there,_ the voice continued.

"Umm Tukkan, you in there?" Tyr asked uncertainly. Tukkan had been standing completely straight for almost a full minute without saying a word and it was kind of unnerving to see.

"Sorry about that, guess I just spaced out" Tukkan replied with a sheepish grin. Bending down Tukkan hoisted Tyr onto the island with a quick sweep before leaning against it beside his assistant. "Let's start from the top buddy, what did you want to know about girls?"

"I was just wondering if… well I guess how… how do you know if they like you or if you well… you know… like them back?" Tyr said shakily. He wasn't really the most adept with this kind of 'emotional mush' and speaking it aloud just made it worse. But he did spot the knowing glint in Tukkan's eye and what seemed to be a flash of… possibly relief?

"So you want to know if Weiss likes you huh?" Tyr said with a teasing smirk. While on the outside he was his usual playful self, on the inside he was breathing a heavy sigh of relief. _Thank the Kais he's not asking for The_ _Talk_ , he applauded this latest stroke of luck.

 _Why do I have the feeling you would have passed The Talk over to Nadan?_ The second voice asked sarcastically as it made its return.

 _You can't prove that_ , the first voice countered indignantly.

 _Of course I can, I'm you!_ Voice two countered. _Hey pay attention he's speaking!_ The second voice exclaimed cutting short the mental back and forth Tukkan was having with himself.

"I-I-I didn't say anything about W-Weiss!" Tyr stammered in panic waving his arms back and forth trying to dispel Tukkan's knowing stare.

"Yeah I guess you're right, she does seem a little more interested in Raijin anyways" Tukkan shrugged masking the mischievous smile that was threatening to burst out.

"She's what!?" Tyr exclaimed in shock scrambling closer to Tukkan to press him for more information. "But I thought we…" Tyr trailed off noticing the huge smirk plastered over the Konatsian's smug face that finally broke through the chef's resolve. Slumping back down with a frown Tyr stared daggers up to the still smirking Tukkan. "That wasn't fair" Tyr pouted slapping his tail against the island with a loud clang.

"All's fair in love and war buddy, I just needed to see where you stood" Tyr shrugged once more, grabbing one of the dumplings he had been preparing earlier and popping it in his mouth with a quick flick of his thumb. "But hey, I now know for sure that you definitely like the Ice Queen" Tukkan said patting his culinary partner's scaly shoulder.

"Really?" Tukkan asked in surprise his tail rippling with a small shudder.

"You're reaction told me all I needed to know" Tukkan chuckled. Looking back to the young Dramon, Tukkan saw he still seemed confused and unsure of how to proceed. Placing his hand back on the kid's shoulder Tukkan looked back to the kid he had taken under his wing. "Look Tyr, there's no need to get worked up about it, ok?" Tukkan said with a kind hearted smile.

"But what should I-" Tyr began before Tukkan placed a finger over his mouth to quiet him.

"Tyr you are still really young, there's no need to push things along, just let whatever happens to happen naturally, trust me it'll be ten times better if you two do get together down the road" Tukkan said sagely. _We've been hanging around Shuyo too much, that monk crap's starting to rub off on us now,_ Tukkan sniggered to himself.

"Just let things keep going the way they are with us?" Tyr asked uncertainly, he needed to make sure he understood what Tukkan was telling him perfectly.

"Yep just stay the course, you guys have a good thing right now, no need to ruin such a great friendship on accident right?" Tukkan chuckled patting the kid on the back. "Just keep being yourself and it will work out."

"Thanks Tuk" Tyr smiled a seemingly heavy weight lifting from his scaly shoulders as he exhaled a sigh of relief.

"No problem little buddy, hey I got the rest of dinner covered why don't you head out and get ready" Tukkan said waving off Tyr as he slipped back over to one of the simmering pots on the stove top.

"Really? Thanks Tuk you're the best!" Tyr exclaimed excitedly taking off his cooking apron and hanging it along the wall.

"Don't I know it" Tukkan chuckled as he heard the door to the kitchens slide open.

"Hey Tuk?" Tyr asked nervously from the doorway. The insecure look on his facing made Tukkan raise an eyebrow in concern.

"Yeah, what's up?" Tukkan asked setting down a ladle while he turned around.

"You were kidding about Weiss and Rai… right?" Tyr asked stroking his tail nervously in his arms, a trait he no doubt picked up from the Ice Queen herself.

"Of course I was, was just trying to get a reaction out of you buddy" Tukkan chuckled at the look of relief on the Dramon's face. "Besides I don't think Weiss is really Raijin's type you know?" Tukkan said but upon seeing the oblivious look on the Dramon's face decided to wave him off. "Never mind buddy get going."

Turning back to the stove top Tukkan continued to stir its contents around taking a quick taste to check how its progress was coming. _I'm surprised we actually pulled that off_ , Tukkan thought to himself.

 _Ditto, last thing we needed was to give him piss poor advice_ , the second voice replied back drily.

 _When have I ever given out bad advice?_ Voice number one countered indignantly.

 _Would you like a list?_ The third more timid voice said coyly as it made its return.

 _Listen here you… I mean me_ \- Tukkan's conversation with himself was cut short by a sharp rapping at the door.

Walking over Tukkan opened the door revealing Weiss standing on the other side a determined look on her face. "Good evening Tukkan" Weiss greeted with a small curtsey.

"How's it going Ice Queen?" Tukkan replied with a chuckle.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Weiss complained losing some of her refined grace she had moments ago.

"Don't worry about it, so what's up?" Tukkan asked with a smile at the ruffled look the girl had.

"I was just wondering if the dolt was in there with you" Weiss stated stretching her neck to peer inside.

"You just missed him actually" Tukkan chuckled waving her inside as he returned to the stove top.

"Drat" Weiss sighed disappointedly.

"He'll be back I just told him to get ready for dinner" Tukkan reassured her as he popped open the lid of one of the simmering pots. "Hey Weiss wanna try this and tell me what you think?" Tukkan asked pointing to the simmering stew he had been attending to.

"Sure" Weiss stated walking up to Tukkan and taking a spoon full of the steaming broth. After almost burning her tongue on the scalding mixture on her first attempt, Weiss blew on the spoon to cool it down. A quick bite later and Weiss was humming approvingly at the delectable taste, once again it seemed Tukkan had outdid himself.

"That good huh?" Tukkan laughed at the content look on the Frost Demoness' face.

"It's quite delicious" Weiss acknowledged with a stunning smile before it dropped away. In its place was a frown that took Tukkan aback with its sudden appearance. "Tukkan may I ask you something?" Weiss queried her tail coiling around her own legs, something Tukkan had spotted before when the Demoness was excessively nervous.

"Of course what did you want to ask about?" Tukkan asked as a sinking feeling spread through his chest.

"You see… how do I put this? I suppose I wanted to ask… to ask you about boys" Weiss stated looking up with a flare of determination.

 _No! Not her too!_ Tukkan cried out in despair at the Demoness' inquiry. _Why do they keep coming to me?!_ Swallowing his own anxiety with the situation Tukkan looked back down to Weiss with his carefree grin returned to its rightful place.

"Sure thing kiddo, what did you want to know?"

* * *

"You know I'm all for sibling bonding time but they've been in there for five hours now" Aayla grumbled to Nadan in annoyance. It had been almost two months now since they departed from Langden. Since then they had installed the hyperdrive and used it to jump to countless worlds in their search for Earth, they had broken up minor skirmishes that had cropped up across PTO space and deepened their search for Shuyo's origin, alas to no avail. But there was one other thing that had occurred in that time that grew more prevalent as the journey dragged on. Frieza had begun avoiding Aayla.

Now it wasn't in the sense that he avoided any and all contact with her, quite the contrary actually. The two had never been closer and talked almost every day gradually growing their budding relationship. But while that aspect of their partnership grew another part was slowly shriveling away. "He said we would spar today but he's been in there forever with Cooler, and they don't look like they're about to leave any time soon" Aayla complained smacking her hand against the screen showing a live feed of Cooler and Frieza's sparring session.

"Perhaps he's just really invested in this match?" Nadan said trying to defuse the agitated Securan.

"Maybe, if this wasn't the fifth time he's done it this week" Aayla snapped back. She knew she shouldn't take out her frustration on her friends but this was getting ridiculous. One of the things she loved so much about being around Frieza was their time together in training. Even when they weren't 'together-together' she still had a blast exchanging blows with the Frost Prince because he would push her to her limit every time and force her past those boundaries. A part of her hoped she was able to do the same for him.

However that was slowly dwindling away, now their matches had trickled to just a small handful. And now on the rare occasions when they would actually go through with a match Frieza just seemed… different. He no longer pushed the pace of the fight, acting solely on defense, refusing to engage and rarely, if ever throwing a single punch. This wasn't Frieza being coy or making a game out of it, she could sense what he was feeling, it was trepidation, it was fear, it was worry and it was driving Aayla up the wall.

"I'm sure he must have a good reason for it" Nadan sighed as he made his way over to his seat. Nadan was right, at least partially so, Frieza definitely had a reason for being so aloof in their matches, as to whether it was 'good' was still up for debate. Looking back to the screen she watched as both brothers attacked each other with reckless abandon, grins plastered on both their faces as they traded blow for blow. She continued to watch the brothers' fight, both of them were trading blows that could flatten a planet, but against her Frieza barely put any effort into their contests.

Gritting her teeth Aayla spun on her heel and marched down the corridor. She was through waiting, Frieza was far too emotionally stunted to make the first move and this needed to be addressed immediately. "Mark my words Hun before today's over you are going to fight me and you are going to like it!"

* * *

"Come now brother is that the best you can do?" Frieza jeered ducking under Cooler's jab with a quick flick of his head. While Frieza had greatly enjoyed his time off on Langden there was just something satisfying about getting back to work, even if it was just training. Cooler, as always, was proving to be an excellent sparring partner albeit a little boring.

"Dodge one punch and you start trash talking?" Cooler scoffed as he smashed Frieza with a right hook that knocked the younger prince back in surprise. "Getting a little cocky aren't we?" Cooler smirked, cracking his knuckles as he closed in on his brother.

"I wouldn't call it cocky per se, after all I am only fighting at-" Frieza didn't get to finish as Cooler cut him off with a straight right that slammed him against the wall.

"I don't want to hear about your arbitrary percentages" Cooler growled in annoyance. They had been fighting for hours now and every time Frieza gained the advantage he would state he was only fighting at some fraction of his full power. Though he had known him his entire life, Frieza's ego still managed to surprise Cooler from time to time. "Tell you what" Cooler stated planting his foot down with authority. "Full power, both of us no holding back, that way you have no excuses for when I mop the floor with you" Cooler returned the sneer on his brother's face with a broad smile. He almost had him he just needed one final push… "That is, unless you're scared?" The look on Frieza's face was all Cooler needed to know.

 _Got him_

Frieza's purple aura exploded in all directions as he powered up to his full strength, Frieza yelled at the top of his lungs, his muscles bulged and his power swelled to indescribable levels. Taking a look at his surroundings Cooler was quite grateful to Nadan. The scientist had designed the training room to perfection. They could go as hard as they wanted with little chance of accidently destroying the ship in the process. "I keep forgetting how long it takes you to hit full power brother!" Cooler jeered over the sound of Frieza's yelling. With a blinding flash of purple light Frieza stood before Cooler his aura surging around him in a tempest of electrified energy.

It was quite remarkable the progress his brother had made over the years, he was at his full power and yet he no longer needed to bulk up unnecessarily like in the past. The musculature increase had been streamlined maximizing its effectiveness while simultaneously limiting the speed loss to being almost negligible. "Impressive brother, Aayla truly has whipped you into shape" the older Frost Prince chuckled. Cooler didn't miss the peculiar look that passed across his brother's face at the mention of the Securan's name though. "I guess it's my turn now" Cooler's smile transitioned into a grimace and with an eruption of light and an enraged shout Cooler's full power burst forth.

Frieza took a step back in shock, he had not expected Cooler to be able to transform to his fifth form so quickly, what had once taken his brother minutes to perform could now take place in the blink of an eye. "I guess your boyfriend's been working you pretty hard as well" Frieza laughed at the glower that passed over Cooler's face before his bone mask snapped shut. They had been trading small jabs like that since they were kids, despite their mother's insistence that they try to get along. At this point with all their back and forth the brothers had formed a rapport with each other, sure it wasn't perfect but it was one they were both comfortable with.

"Funny you should mention that, it was actually your girlfriend who I've been working with, seems she's had plenty of free time on her hands with you avoiding her at every possible turn" Cooler smirked underneath the bone mask, he had hit a nerve and it showed on his brother's face.

Vanishing in a flash Frieza reappeared right in front of Cooler, slamming his fist straight into Cooler's face. Though both brothers were at full power Cooler had not expected the surprise attack and so was ill prepared for Frieza's sudden offensive onslaught. Frieza's arms were a blur as he attacked his armoured brother who had quickly gotten over the shock and began attacking back.

"Not bad brother, even without an additional transformation you're still able to keep up with me" Cooler commended, tanking a snap kick to the ribs and countering with a left jab and right cross sending Frieza tumbling back to the floor below. "But unfortunately you won't be able to keep up for much longer" Cooler chuckled pressing forward once more.

"We'll see about that" Frieza scoffed and raised a finger to point at his charging brother. Cooler's eyes widened once more as Frieza unleashed a Death Beam Barrage directly at him. Curling up Cooler was able withstand the brunt of the assault. However his normally pristine ivory bio-armour was left scuffed and singed from the deadly volley of energy beams. Lowering his arms, that had withstood the majority of the barrage, Cooler glared at Frieza from across the training room, his brother really wasn't playing around.

Standing smugly with smoke still rising from his outstretched digit Frieza laughed at the look at his brother's face. "No need to look so sullen Cooler, after all you are the one who said not to hold back" Frieza's grin grew while he watched his brother intently. While Cooler was a fairly reserved person at times, growing up with him had given Frieza plenty of insight into his body language. The slight twitch of his right index finger, his eyelids that closed ever so slightly and the small flick of his tail gave away everything Frieza needed to know about his brother's mood, he was mad as hell.

Cooler charged forward with a thunderous pressure wave and was on top of Frieza in an instant. A quick leap to the side kept Frieza away from his older brother's initial charge, in this augmented form Cooler had almost a full three feet height advantage over his younger brother. The size differential would normally give Frieza the mobility advantage however as he had stated beforehand, Cooler had been improving.

Frieza raced after Cooler looking to connect with an overhand right, it was almost too easy his brother still hadn't turned around yet. But just before he could connect Cooler vanished leaving Frieza off balance for when Cooler reappeared overhead driving his knee into the small of Frieza's back and slamming him into the floor with a tremendous shudder.

Frieza tried to snake his tail around Cooler's ankle to throw him off but his brother's own armored tail had moved to intercept, cutting off that possibility. "Nice try brother, but there aren't too many people who know how you fight better than I" Cooler chortled, pushing down harder with his knee. Gritting his teeth together Frieza unleashed a pressure wave strong enough to knock Cooler off of him.

Frieza was back on his feet but Cooler was already on top of him again using his imposing mass and aggressive style he pushed Frieza across the training room with a relentless assault. Both Frost Demons exchanged blows at a furious pace and while both seemed to land roughly the same amount the difference was clear. Cooler could shrug off his brother's most fearsome strikes but Frieza could not.

Both brothers connect with a right hook that caused the lights overhead to flicker from their force. But while Cooler, with his more armoured and muscular body, could power through his brother's attack Frieza was sent hurtling off to the side. "The augmented form gives me far greater endurance brother, if you want to go shot for shot I'll be more than happy to oblige, but I don't recommend it" Cooler chuckled once more as Frieza got back to his feet.

"Well then I guess I'll just make sure you can't hit me at all" Frieza sneered disappearing in a burst of heightened speed. Raising his guard Cooler squinted, waiting for just the right opportunity, he didn't have to wait long as Frieza reappeared just over his right shoulder. With surprising nimbleness Cooler side stepped the strike causing Frieza to soar passed him in shock. Before Frieza could correct his trajectory Cooler had already begun sprinting after him, each step rattling the training room with a thunderous tremor.

Frieza turned around just in time to see Cooler's enlarged fist slam into his chin in a vicious uppercut that knocked him into the ceiling. Bouncing off the roof Frieza readjusted so his feet were pressed against the surface. Looking downwards he had only a second to react as Cooler rocketed up to meet him. Vanishing in another burst of speed Frieza looked to flank from the left this time. Taking his chance Frieza lashed out with a wheel kick that was picture perfect and would have rocked even Cooler's armoured self, that is if Frieza's kick hadn't passed through an afterimage of the older Frost Prince.

"What!?" Frieza cried out in confusion only to watch as Cooler's shin materialized an inch in front of his face. Connecting with his own perfectly executed wheel kick Cooler watched from above as Frieza bounced off the ground, skidding to a halt Frieza tried to regain his footing only to collapse in a heap. That blow had rattled the younger Frost Demon who was now having difficulty focusing his blurry vision on his imposing brother.

"How?" Frieza gasped in pain as he felt the strain his muscles had just gone through trying to keep up with his brother.

"I told you already brother, I have been working alongside Shuyo and Aayla extensively" Cooler stated touching down beside the still wobbly Frieza as he tried to regain his footing once more. Seeing their session was clearly over Cooler began reverting back into his normal unsealed form just in time to catch Frieza who had almost lost his footing. Supporting his younger brother with his shoulder Cooler steadily lowered Frieza to the ground and promptly took a seat beside him. "Shuyo has been helping to improve my senses, that's how I was able to keep track of you even when you vanished from sight" Cooler stated, cracking his knuckles to relieve them of the strain he put them through. "As for Aayla she and I have been working on energy control as well as overall technique, she's really an extraordinary teacher when she wants to be."

The uncomfortable shift from his brother was not lost on Cooler, deciding now was as good a time as any he decided to press the issue at hand. "Alright Frieza time to come clean, what's going on?" Cooler asked appraising his brother out of the corner of his eye.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Frieza muttered avoiding eye contact with his brother who now had his gaze fully trained on him.

"You know, for an intergalactic tyrant you're a terrible liar" Cooler chuckled softly.

"I'll have you know I am an excellent liar when I want to be" Frieza scoffed indignantly.

"Perhaps I just know you too well then" Cooler shrugged a small smile adorning his face. "Now tell me, why have you been avoiding her?" Cooler pressed, it was time to get answers even if he had to pry it out of his brother bit by bit.

"What does it matter to you?" Frieza shot back with a little more venom than he might have intended.

"Because we are a team, I understand that team cohesion isn't exactly one of your most shining qualities but nevertheless if something's going on between you two it affects all of us" Cooler stated crossly staring down his brother. "Now explain yourself" Cooler commanded forcefully earning him yet another annoyed scowl.

"Very well, I don't feel like striking her I suppose" Frieza stated flatly. Though he tried to pass off the comment as nonchalantly as possible Cooler still noted the uneasy way he shifted his position.

"Pardon?" Cooler asked in disbelief. When Frieza didn't respond Cooler pushed further for more information. "You're telling me that you haven't been training with her and pissing her off to no end… because you don't want to hit her!?" Cooler exclaimed in exasperation. "Dare I ask why? It never stopped you from training before." When Cooler once again received no answer, the elder Frost Demon decided to take it upon himself to extrapolate his brother's anomalous behaviour.

"Don't tell me it's because you're seeing each other now?" Cooler asked in exasperation. When all Cooler received for his inquiry was a slight shift and a small turn of his brother's head he knew he had stumbled on the reason. "You can't be serious, Frieza you stopped training with Aayla all because you didn't want to hurt her?" Cooler planted his face in the palm of his hand he couldn't believe his brother could be so dense. He could at times be ignorant of his surroundings and those around him but not this blatantly stupid.

"What?!" Frieza exclaimed, the agitation from listening to his brother finally bursting forth.

"Frieza you know her better than anyone else how did you manage to pull this off?" Cooler asked in disbelief. "I told you on Langden not to screw this up, it may have taken you a grand total of two months but you still managed to screw it up in the end."

"Either explain what you're babbling about or get lost" Frieza snarled back.

"Aayla has spent her entire life among people who labeled her a freak, people who treated her worse than an animal because she was different" Cooler stated in agitation his voice just barely above a whisper. "She enjoys being a part of this team so much because she knows while she's here she can be herself, with us she belongs, in this insane dysfunctional family we've formed she's an equal" Cooler continued, he had Frieza's attention he could only hope the idiot was understanding what he was saying.

"By not training with her you're taking away one of the things that brought you two together in the first place. By refusing to hit her just because you're together, you're treating her differently from everyone else and you of all people should know how she feels about that" Cooler could see the dawning realisation in Frieza's eyes and so pressed forward to hammer the point home. "You are literally doing the exact thing that pisses her off more than anything else, out of all of us you should know this, and I shouldn't have to tell you that."

Both brothers sat in silence for several minutes, Frieza mulling over his brother's words and Cooler waiting patiently for Frieza to pull his head out of his ass. Just as Cooler started to lose his patience Frieza straightened up catching his attention. "Damn it" the younger Frost Demon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in the process.

"Say it" Cooler said with a smirk. Frieza mumbled something unintelligible out of the corner of his mouth that brought a wry smile to Cooler's face. "I didn't quite catch that brother" Cooler chuckled.

"You're right!" Frieza shouted his complexion reddening as he threw his hands into the air. If there was one thing in this universe that he hated more than anything else it was admitting that his brother was right.

As he rose from his seated position Cooler stretched his own arms out to either side, the broad smile on his face only serving to irritate Frieza even further. "There now, was that so hard?" Cooler asked innocently. The faux sweetness in his voice almost made Frieza take a swing at him but he was still on wobbly legs from earlier so decided against it, for now. "Now brother the real question, do you know how to fix this little mess you put yourself in?"

"Yes" Frieza replied stiffly, getting up as well to test his legs out.

"Excellent, then my job here is done" Cooler chuckled at the inquisitorial look his brother was giving him. "Oh did I forget to mention the only reason I agreed to train with you today was to bring you to this little realisation, well that and getting you to admit I was right, that was more of a personal treat though."

"So our training was meaningless then?" Frieza hissed in anger. He had forgotten that Cooler could be just as sneaky as himself when he wanted to.

"I wouldn't say meaningless, think of it as a learning experience" Cooler replied with a smirk. "Now you know that I can mop the floor with you in a fight" Cooler broke into laughter once more at the angered look on his brother's face. While the two of them had been trading verbal blows since they could speak, Frieza was always the easier of the two to wind up.

Frieza's scowl quickly vanished as he slumped against the monitor in the middle of the room, a look of defeat now taking its place. "How has the gap gotten so drastic between us?" Frieza sighed dejectedly. Such a demeanor was uncommon for the normally cocksure Frost Demon and only managed to put Cooler on edge as to what might come next.

Choosing his words carefully Cooler tried to apply some logic to the situation, whether his brother would be receptive was a completely different matter. "Brother with the fifth form I have a natural advantage over you, think of it as the difference between a Saiyan and a Super Saiyan" Cooler flinched at having to use Saiyans for his analogy but it felt like the best comparison at the time.

"Back on Fuar I was stronger than you, I beat you with one punch!" Frieza exclaimed in disbelief. Slowly Frieza slid against the training room's control console until he was back to being seated on the cold floor.

"Oh yes, one punch after I spent most of that day leading our ground forces in battle, which I then followed with a one on one match with Shuyo all the while having limited experience with the form in general" Cooler concluded taking a position beside his seated brother.

"Fine I get it, we can't use that as an indicator…" Frieza sighed rubbing away a droplet of blood that had dripped onto the palm of his hand. Looking up to his brother Frieza stared him down until Cooler raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"Yes?" Cooler asked uncertainly.

"How did you do it?" Frieza asked almost robotically.

"How did I achieve the augmented form?" Cooler asked which Frieza only responded to with a curt nod. Clasping his hands together Cooler adopted a thoughtful expression as he relived the events that triggered his change all those years ago. With a weary sigh Cooler turned to face his brother with a somewhat remorseful expression. "It was pure rage" Cooler stated bending down to once again take a seat beside his brother.

"Four years ago father order the attack on planet Riban, while I was confused as to why he would want me to lead the attack on a planet in your sector I still followed his request to the letter" Cooler stated his voice monotone. Looking closely Frieza was surprised to see such a forlorn look on his brother's face. Ignoring his the younger Frost Demon's questioning stare Cooler continued his account "along with my personal ship I had two full cruisers coming along for the mission, father told us to expect heavy resistance."

Cooler clenched his fist as the memories came back clear as day "he was correct, the Riban's had been lying in wait and as soon as our ships broke through the cloud cover they opened fire." At this point Cooler's tone had started to take on a more venomous quality as the events of that day came back to him. "Both the cruisers that accompanied us were destroyed almost instantly, all the men and woman serving under my command extinguished in the blink of an eye. After that I ordered my own ship to pull up as Dore, Neiz, Salza and I went planetside."

"It took several days of hard fighting but we wiped out all their ground forces and successfully took the planet but at the cost of almost everyone under my command." Cooler said, the anger in his voice steadily rising. "It would take weeks but I would eventually learn that it was in fact your responsibility to attack that planet, father had given you the order initially however you ignored it… to go gallivanting away to Namek" Cooler spat in anger.

"Because you didn't do your job when father told you, the GFM managed to fortify Riban's defenses. We lost the element of surprise and so over two hundred men and women under my command died that day… all because you were too much of a spoiled brat to follow orders!" Cooler shouted losing all composure at the memories of those that were lost.

"Perhaps it was the catalyst, the last straw if you will, but when I discovered that, I felt the anger overwhelm me. I knew that, not only did your own negligence cost my men their lives but, father would do nothing to reprimand you, his little princess" Cooler spat, his fury was practically overwhelming him. "All the favouritism father rained down on you, the way he brushed me off to the side because you were the stronger of the two of us, it had built up over the years and once I realised why my men died that day it all burst forth" Cooler seemed to calm down his breathing returning to normal as he realised where he was. "I damn near obliterated the communications center we were in when the change occurred… you know the rest."

Frieza sat in stunned silence as he tried to contemplate his brother's words, not once had he brought up his transformation in the past to him, looking at him now Frieza realised he probably never told anyone before. "I'm sorry brother" Frieza's words were barely above a whisper but Cooler heard them nonetheless.

"It's fine…" Cooler sighed, his shoulders slumping as the feeling of venting all those pent up emotions washed over him. "It's not just you, father was the one who ordered that mission knowing how much the GFM had fortified Riban… bastard" Cooler frowned he didn't always enjoy speaking ill of the dead but his father had made it so damn easy. "Besides you already paid the price for that stupid trip to Namek, didn't you?" Cooler smirked at the irritated grunt that came from Frieza.

"Indeed I did" Frieza commented rubbing the spot on his stomach where his Death Saucer had sliced through him. "How did you handle the transformation?" Frieza asked looking back up to his brother.

"It wasn't easy the first few times it felt like my body was going to tear itself apart, but over time and with practice it became easier to manage" Cooler replied with a shrug.

Both brothers sat there in silence for several minutes, each one wrapped up in their own thoughts. Frieza would be the first to speak as he got back to his feet "I've been meaning to ask you about Weiss."

"What about her?" Cooler responded, getting to his own feet as well.

"She's been having trouble with her power lately, it looks like she's about to reach her own fifth form but she never quite makes it, after that she's completely exhausted for hours" Frieza stated checking the console controls for the training room absentmindedly.

"Her body may be a little too frail to handle the change" Cooler supposed. Cooler knew Frieza was just trying to steer the subject away from the darker territory they had been in just minutes ago and Cooler was grateful for it. "Perhaps with the right training she'll one day be able to control it" Cooler muttered softly, the girl had talent is spades there was no question of that perhaps she would be able to master the augmented form as well.

"Do you have any ideas?" Frieza asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Perhaps, Shuyo has been a great help getting everything about this form under control, maybe we can both try to work with her for a while until she has a grasp of this power" Cooler stated thoughtfully.

"Make it so, or at least try, she hasn't actually made it to that form yet, it almost looks like she gets stuck halfway" Frieza chuckled softly, he had begun pacing around the room to stretch his limbs.

"I'll have to ask Shuyo what he thinks" Cooler commented drily. "Speaking of the green idiot, he brought up an interesting request just the other day" Cooler said turning to face his still pacing brother.

"Oh and what was that?" Frieza inquired glad to be back to more light hearted conversation.

"He wants us to go check out Veibos" Cooler stated leaning his back against the center console for support.

"He wants us to go all the way into the middle of nowhere space just to visit the dirtball he grew up on?" Frieza asked incredulously.

"He does and he brought up some convincing points to back his case" Cooler smirked as Frieza came to a halt in front of him. "Firstly he obviously wants to see if there are any clues that he might have missed he said there were things Nadan would probably be interested in as well."

"Nadan gets interested in anything he hasn't encountered before, if he had things his way we wouldn't leave a planet until he files and categorizes everything on it for his research" Frieza replied drily.

"Fair enough but Shuyo also brought up something that might be of interest to you" Cooler chuckled as Frieza leaned in closer. "Veibos is mostly a hive of scum and villainy one of the worst in the galaxy, luckily that means it's a haven for smugglers and black market dealers, it's possible one of them may have passed by or even visited Earth at one point" the glint in Frieza's eye told Cooler all he needed to know, he was in.

"It's a bit of a longshot, but I did promise Shuyo to help him in his search and if we can find Earth's coordinates then all the better" Frieza said the eagerness in his voice coming through in droves. It may have only been a chance but at this point they had been searching for the damned Saiyan's home for so long that Frieza was willing to take any chance he could get. "Tell me, why hasn't Shuyo brought this to my attention sooner?" Frieza inquired of his brother who only shrugged his shoulders.

"Could be he wanted to wait until the right moment to bring it up, or maybe he was simply worried you would say no, either way I feel like it's an avenue worth exploring" Cooler stated as he made his way over to the door of the training room, his tail swishing from side to side.

"Where do you think you're going?" Frieza called after him in confusion.

"I'm just going to get some fresh air, besides I think you two could use some privacy" Cooler replied with a mischievous smirk.

"Two?" Frieza questioned in confusion. But as Cooler hit the button unlocking the door Frieza's heart jumped into his throat. There standing in the doorway, arms crossed and looking pissed off to no end was Aayla. "Wait! Cooler don't leave!" Frieza called after the retreating form of Cooler who only gave a half-hearted wave in return.

Aayla quickly stalked over to Frieza who was doing his best not to look like a sheepish teenager. Coming to a halt just in front of the tense Frost Prince, Aayla began tapping her foot waiting for Frieza's response. With a resigned sigh Frieza locked eyes with the disgruntled Securan who stared back unblinkingly. "Cooler assisted me in realising that I may have been going about this situation in the incorrect manner" Frieza said while his tail snaked back and forth nervously.

When Aayla didn't reply Frieza decided to continue "and so because of that… I apologize" Frieza said through bared teeth. He hated how much apologizing he was doing in a single day.

Uncrossing her arms Aayla stared down the Frost Prince with an appraising look in her eye. "And do you know how you're going to fix this?" She asked her tone perfectly masking whatever emotions she was feeling.

With a deep breath and solemn nod Frieza looked back up to the Securan with a small smile. "I do" Frieza replied simply. Lashing out faster than Aayla could react against Frieza connected with a crisp jab that sent the Azure Beauty sailing across the room. Smacking against the wall with a tremendous thud she slid down the side but managed to land on her feet, hunched over in pain.

Aayla slowly brought her head back up to meet Frieza's stunning red eyes as he slowly began walking towards her. A small trickle of blood dripped from her lips as she broke into an enormous smile and brought herself back to her full stature. "That's more like it!" Aayla exclaimed cheerfully as she charged forward to meet her boyfriend in the center of the training grounds to beat the hell out of each other. They may not have had the most orthodox relationship, but she wouldn't have her Frost Prince any other way.

* * *

Frieza's eyes slowly creeped open as he awoke from yet another restless night. It was simply more of the same, nothing he hadn't dealt with before. Dreams and nightmares filled with Super Saiyans, his parents and the deaths of his crew, same old, same old. Slowly Frieza rose up, cracking his neck from side to side to get the kinks out. Truthfully there was one thing about the dreams that bothered him, it was their frequency. They started off sparingly perhaps only once or twice a month, but at this point it was more like five times a week. Still Frieza knew that dreams were simply that, and were only a threat to his sleep.

Looking to his left Frieza was content to see his partner still slumbering beside him peacefully. Another by-product of their mental link was that Aayla would sometimes get a little glimpse into his subconscious and vice versa while asleep. It had been quite the shock for both of them when both of their dreams started to seep into each other. But it seemed Aayla had been spared the unpleasantness that was the Frost Demon's mind this time around.

Slowly getting to his feet Frieza began to walk towards the bathroom to go about his normal morning routines when a sleepy voice called out to him from behind. "Sleep well hun?" Aayla yawned as she stretched her limber body to its fullest.

"Not entirely, but nothing new there" Frieza chuckled. As Aayla began to get out of bed Frieza held out a hand to stop her. "You stay there, I'll go see what I can get from Tukkan and you can eat in here" Frieza smiled at the questioning look his partner gave him.

"Breakfast in bed? Really? Alright who are you and where's the real Frieza?" Aayla couldn't hide her smile as Frieza rolled his eyes.

"My dear I'll have you know-" suddenly Frieza was cut off as the emergency lights kicked in cloaking the room in a crimson glow. "What the-" once again Frieza was cut off as the entire ship jerked forward violently sending both Frieza and Aayla slamming into the wall with remarkably loud thud. As both tried to get to their feet, Aayla having to kick off the sheets that had coiled around her, Nadan's voice came over the intercom.

"I apologize for that, we had to perform an emergency deceleration out of lightspeed!" Nadan called out over the intercom, his voice echoing across the halls of the ship. "Lord Frieza please come to the bridge right now, you're going to want to see this!" The panicked tone of Nadan's voice put Frieza on edge there wasn't a whole lot that could work Nadan up like that.

"Guess that means no breakfast in bed?" Aayla pouted playfully as she slid her leggings on along with a top.

"Seems that way" Frieza muttered from the door waiting for her. As soon as she was ready both of them raced down the halls passing the other members of the crew who quickly followed after them. Making it to the bridge in record time Frieza and Aayla came to a stop beside the captain's chair as Nadan scrambled to and fro from different ends of the bridge checking over the ships systems.

"Nadan what is this about?" Frieza asked catching hold of the panicked Malakan's arm as he ran by.

"I'm sorry my Lord I don't have time to explain just look out the viewport!" Nadan replied hurriedly trying to get the systems back under control. Suddenly dropping out of lightspeed always wreaked havoc on a ship's systems, most weren't made to take the strain of such an extreme deceleration.

Frieza slowly made his way to the viewport to gaze out at what Nadan had found. That was when Frieza's heart jumped straight into his throat. "It can't be" Frieza muttered in shock.

"It is!" Nadan called out running past the stunned Frost Prince.

"What is it?" Aayla asked taking a spot beside him. As she looked out her own eyes widened in astonishment, she had read the reports and seen the photos and they were an exact match. "There's no way, that can't be" Aayla stammered in shock.

"It's Namek" Frieza muttered his voice barely above a whisper. The Frost Prince would remember that planet until the day he died, it was where his whole life had changed forever. But he had watched it explode, hell he was the one who blew it up how could it have returned? As he took in the emerald skies of the Namekian homeworld Frieza's gaze was drawn upwards and came upon something even more shocking than the resurgence of a supposedly dead planet.

Attached to the planet was an immense machine that looked to be spreading across the planet's pristine surface. To Frieza it looked to be some kind of mechanical tumour that was attempting to envelop its host. But that wasn't what put Frieza so on edge, it was the power emanating from the gigantic structure. It was immense, stretching across the entire surface of the machine itself and it felt eerily familiar. Turning around, Frieza locked his gaze with an equally shaken Cooler they both nodded in unison coming to an immediate understanding. They both knew they needed to get down there as soon as possible, after all King Cold died at the hands of the Saiyans nearly three years ago.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Salutations friends! And we're back with a chapter I hadn't initially intended to get as feelsy as it did, but I can't complain as the next few chapters are going to be pure action. Absolutely loved writing in all the interactions with all the characters it's always fun when I get to add in a little extra depth. I was actually able to get his out sooner than I anticipated what with school and work and whatnot. But enough of that on to the analysis! Tally ho!**

 **With Yang's examination the main goal was to give a better explanation for how the Fruit of Might works. It basically dumps the energy in you and that's that Yang's growth was simply her body's way to deal with the sudden influx in strength. I also liked writing out Raijin and Nadan's scenes helps to show that Nadan's taken him under his wing.**

 **Bit of foreshadowing for the distant future with Tukkan's conversations with Tyr and Weiss. I liked the idea of Tukkan who's normally super laid back having to deal with stress and felt like this was a good way to bring it out and also add some fun to the chapter. The inner voices idea came to me after I watched episode 10 of SAO Abridged, it was too good to pass up.**

 **The biggest part of the chapter though was Frieza and Cooler's interaction, I felt like I haven't had much time focused on that dynamic. It was fun writing in their back and forth which just equates to typical sibling bickering. I also added in Cooler's transformation backstory. I feel like that's how it probably would have gone if we were ever told how it happened. I always felt like the Frieza being raised as their father's prodigal son had something to do with Cooler gaining the additional form. I also used the circumstances to once again show Cooler's respect for those under his command a small thing sure but I always liked that aspect of his character.**

 **Now for the part you've all been waiting for… He's back! That's right we got Meta Cold up in here. I know a lot of you (all of you) wanted Aayla, Frieza and Cooler to get a crack at the bastard. And so they will but how will they fare? You're just going to have to stay tuned and find out next time!**

 **On a serious note I can't thank you all enough for how great you've all been, it's been a hectic few weeks for me but you guys have been super patient and I can't thank you enough. To my fellow students hope you guys are able to get a break here and there, lord knows we could use it.**

 **Until next time folks, it's been a blast as always!**


	25. Chapter 25 - The Bicentennial Demon

One week, in the span of seven days Frieza's entire existence had been turned on its head. From the moment he first stepped foot on Planet Namek to the point where it finally exploded, Frieza had never endured such pain, failure and humiliation. The green backwater planet represented the culmination of the Frost Demon's failures. It was there that he brought about the birth of the first Super Saiyan in a thousand years. It was there that he squandered his chance at immortality. It was there that he felt the embarrassment of defeat as he was bested by a low class Saiyan.

Yet despite this, despite his desire to never see the wretched ball of dirt for the rest of his life, Frieza knew he had to go back. If for no other reason than to discover how the planet had made its miraculous return.

"You ok?" Aayla muttered beside him, prodding him out of his reverie. It took several seconds for Frieza to coalesce his thoughts. Was he ok? He was facing the planet where his entire life had turned upside down, one that he himself destroyed.

"I will be once we find out what's going on" Frieza stated, taking a step closer to the viewport. "Nadan, that looks like Namek but is it really?" Frieza asked the frantic scientist who was still trying to stabilize some of the malfunctioning systems.

"The initial-" Nadan was cut off as the console to his right exploded in a shower of sparks. Waving his arms to clear the smoke, Nadan moved away from the still sparking equipment before addressing Frieza once more. "The initial scans look identical, I was only able to get the basic readings before our systems started failing."

"What did you find?" Frieza pressed.

"Diameter appears to be identical, and landmasses are similar with some differences but that can be attributed to that little war you had when you were last there" Nadan stated. Taking a tentative step towards his station Nadan jumped back as it sparked once more as if in response to the Malakan's advances. "Air composition looks like what it should be for the type of planet Namek was, unfortunately the science team you took with you didn't do a proper job archiving their findings" Nadan tutted. He was always a little hurt that Frieza had chosen to leave him behind when he left for Namek.

"With all that information can you not at least hazard a guess?" Frieza asked impatiently.

"Of course my Lord. With all the evidence presented to us I would say that that is Namek, I am eighty-four percent certain" Nadan stated matter-of-factly. "As for how it returned I'm at a loss, it is possible that whatever that mechanical structure is it may have obtained a similar planet and terraformed it but for what end I cannot say" Nadan finished with a sigh. As Frieza nodded in understanding he turned back to the viewport just as Shuyo approached the overworked Malakan.

"Well you heard him what do you think?" Frieza asked Aayla who was still staring intently at the planet before them.

"It's like Nadan said, we can't say just yet… not until we touch down and see for ourselves" Aayla murmured. She had been uneasy ever since she had spotted the green planet. There was a Ki signature down there and it was incredibly powerful but that wasn't the worst part. What had put Aayla so on edge was that the energy felt so similar to Frieza and Cooler's signatures that there really was only one person it could belong to.

Sensing his partner's anxiety Frieza gently slipped his tail around her waist pulling her closer to him in a rare sign of affection. "Don't worry yourself, after all we won't know until we touch down" Frieza commented with a wry smile. Joking aside Frieza needed her at one hundred percent otherwise… well Frieza didn't really want to think of that at this time.

Brushing away some of her fear and doubt Aayla straightened herself before closing her eyes for a few seconds. When they finally reopened Aayla's gaze had returned to that determined, no nonsense glare that Frieza couldn't help but feel attracted to. "For the sake of things let's just say that is Namek, how did it come back and why is it way out here?" Aayla asked scanning the green planet vigilantly.

"The answer's simple" Cooler stated sidling up beside the couple. When both turned to address the older Frost Demon he shook his head in mock disbelief. "The Dragon Balls…" Cooler stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. "Clearly the Earthlings used theirs to wish the Namekians a new home" Cooler may have been on to something. Using a wish to bring back a planet for someone else in need was right up Goku's alley.

"Well then with any luck they'll have them and we can make a wish" Frieza chuckled before turning his attention back to the viewport. This time though his gaze was drawn upwards once more to the mechanical monstrosity that had attached itself to the planet before them. It looked like some kind of cobbled together space station and Frieza was positive it was slowly spreading across the surface. But that wasn't what put him on edge about it, he felt the exact same thing Aayla and Cooler had. It was an incredibly potent energy and it did feel uncomfortably similar to his and Cooler's own Ki signatures.

Shaking his head Frieza dispelled the growing pit of dread that had been forming in his stomach. They wouldn't learn anything unless they actually landed so worrying from the safety of orbit was simply pointless. Turning back to his chief, and only, science officer Frieza addressed the scientist who was busy discussing something with Shuyo in hushed voices. "Nadan, were you able to learn anything about that… thing attached to the planet?" Frieza asked.

Nadan snapped to attention upon being addressed by the Frost Prince. "Unfortunately my Lord I have no idea" Nadan admitted begrudgingly. This day was just getting worse and worse for him, first he had to force an emergency disengage, pulling The Nemesis out of lightspeed and damn near tearing the ship in two in the process. If that wasn't enough now they had an outright mystery on their hands and Nadan had almost nothing of note to add.

Shoving his feelings of inadequacy aside Nadan addressed the frost prince with what he did know. "None of my scanners can penetrate beyond the first few layers of the structure itself so readings have been superficial at best" Nadan continued separating from Shuyo as he approached Frieza and Aayla.

"From what little information I can gather so far I would liken it to a space station however it is about the size of a planetoid" Nadan pulled out his datapad as he recounted his findings. "Tungsten, palladium, cobalt, iron, vanadium, gold the structure is literally comprised of almost every known metal, it almost looks like it's been patched together into one form."

"Do you have any idea what it's doing to the planet?" Frieza asked staring down the metal structure as The Nemesis slowly closed in on the planet.

"I can only assume" Nadan confessed. "If that truly is Namek, then it will be exceedingly rich in uncontaminated natural resources, a valuable commodity for just about anyone" Nadan stated wearily. "My terraforming idea is also a possibility however I've never seen it performed like this in the past" Nadan admitted with a shrug. "Lastly It may be drawing energy from the planet itself but those readings are going to be impossible to obtain, there is far too much interference."

"What kind of interference?" Frieza asked the troubled scientist. Nadan shifted uncomfortably before addressing the questioning Frost Demon.

"The power that the structure's giving off is immense and it's spread across the entirety of its surface" Nadan stated before turning to Shuyo who nodded his head. "Shuyo tells me though there's only a single Ki signature in the whole structure, it's located right at the center and it's apparently incredibly powerful." Frieza remained silent waiting for Nadan to finish his observations, he had learned over the years that sometimes it was best just to let the Malakan talk.

"I bounced some numbers off of Shuyo and he believes the Ki signature and the electrical power are roughly the same, I would hazard a guess and say that the structure is drawing most of its power from it" Nadan continued. "But again without any further data it's all just conjecture."

"Let me guess the only way to get more data is to get closer?" Frieza replied, a smirk forming on his face. Placing his hands behind his back and running his foot along the floor Nadan sheepishly nodded his head. "Very well then" Frieza stated turning to the rest of the crew. "Everyone get ready I want to touch down as soon as possible" Frieza's order was heeded almost instantly with everyone rushing off the bridge to get ready.

Nadan, who was already dressed in his normal attire, sprang into action running over to the controls to begin plotting their landing. The kids, who were still in their sleepwear, ran off with Yang trailing behind them to go change, they had been almost completely silent the whole time. Frieza doubted that was due to them sensing the significance of the situation, more likely it was because it was still extremely early and none of them had fully awoken yet. Shuyo and Cooler, not needing to change either, took up positions on either side of Frieza as Aayla left to change, she still hadn't replaced her armour but a thin t-shirt and leggings were hardly combat worthy.

"So brother ready to go back?" Cooler asked with a smirk. From the other side of him Shuyo noticed how Frieza visibly tensed at the thought of returning to Namek. Clearly the experience was traumatic to elicit such a reaction however Frieza rarely talked about his first outing to the Namekian homeworld.

"There's still no guarantee that's actually Namek" Frieza stated coolly trying to dispel any anxiety he was feeling. From beside him Shuyo could sense that it was a losing battle. Frieza knew that the planet was Namek he just didn't want to admit it.

"We must remain cautious, this whole situation is one big unknown, we don't have a clue what we're walking in to" Shuyo stated sagely as the rest of the crew returned this time with Tukkan in tow. "I suggest we take it slow and observe the situation, once we have a firmer grasp of what's actually going on, only then should we make a move."

"Agreed" Frieza replied. He wasn't usually one for stealth but in this case with so many unknown quantities what other choice did they really have? "Alright is everyone ready?" Frieza asked the group gathered before him. After receiving nods from everyone and a thumb's up from Tukkan Frieza turned to address the Malakan scientist who was busy at the ships helm. "Bring us in quietly, no need to attract unwanted attention" Frieza commanded.

"As you wish my Lord, we're entering the atmosphere now, stealth drives engaging in three… two… one… and we're gone" Nadan called out from his station. The lights aboard the bridge went out and were replaced by the crimson warning lights as the ship cloaked.

The stealth drives Nadan had installed essentially coated the ship in an energy field that warped light around The Nemesis making the ship itself essentially see-through. The system simultaneously blocked all forms of electronic scanning making them invisible to radar and the occupants undetectable via scouter. The system itself was not perfect as the ship could still be spotted by the naked eye if you looked hard enough and people who could sense Ki would have little to no trouble detecting the occupants either.

Shuyo took this time to break away from the rest of the group to stand beside Nadan as the scientist guided the ship through the atmosphere. After a few moments of silence where the only sounds were from their entry Shuyo suddenly pointed to a point on Nadan's screen. "Land there, I sense a gathering of people not far from that point, it should bring us close enough to the machine so you can get a better reading as well" Shuyo stated to which Nadan quickly made the adjustments to their course.

As they broke through the cloud cover Frieza could feel his stomach do a backflip as he looked down at the surrounding landscape. There was no mistaking it now, the blue grass, the green lakes, the shrub like trees, this was Namek alright. If not for the enormous metal structure attached to it Frieza would say it was exactly the same as before.

"So this is Namek then" Cooler commented wryly. "After we're done here what say we go get their Dragon Balls and make a wish" Cooler chuckled earning a dark look from Shuyo. They may have grown closer as friends but every once in a while the older Frost Demon managed to say something that made the verdant monk glower. Ignoring the look Cooler continued "if we can procure the Dragon Balls we may be even be able to bring back Fuar, clearly they're capable of bringing back whole planets."

Now there was an idea Frieza could get behind, the Dragon Balls must have been able to bring back entire worlds, it was the only way to explained Namek's return. Just the thought of bringing their home back and undoing one of his most prevalent failures brought a smile to Frieza. With a simple wish he could erase the day he allowed the destruction of Fuar. Perhaps then the vision of that helpless family's demise would finally fade away.

Despite Frieza's excitement at the prospect, his disposition quickly soured once more. There was one insurmountable problem with that plan, one that he seriously doubted they could overcome. "There's no way the Namekians will allow me or by extension any of you near the Dragon Balls" Frieza stated with a sigh.

"What does it matter? We can just take them" Cooler stated crossing his arms and continuing to ignore the angered looks he was getting from Shuyo. The monk may have been with them for quite some time but he was still a person of high moral standing. He clearly didn't like the idea of obtaining the Dragon Balls from the Namekians by force, and in this rare instance Frieza was of the same mind.

"I already tried to take them by force" Frieza stated with a sigh as his memories came back to him. "They will guard the damned Balls to their last breath, and even if we manage to obtain them there is no way they would give up the password."

"Password?" Cooler asked in confusion.

"Yes, I already had all seven Dragon Balls before, but it turns out they had the last laugh" Frieza growled through gritted teeth. "You need some form of password to activate them and at this point I'm positive that every Namekian will take that with them to their grave before they give it up." Frieza stated in agitation.

"So what you're saying is because you screwed everything up the first time around we have no hope for restoring our home?" Cooler asked, the anger in his voice barely being held in check.

"No, what I'm saying is we don't go demanding them and threatening them with violence, we'll have to try… negotiating" Frieza replied with a sneer. Negotiations were never his strong suit and negotiating with the Namekians was going to be damn near impossible but it was their only avenue. As a peaceful race the possibility did exist that the Namekians would be open to talking things out.

"We're here!" Nadan called out getting everyone's attention as The Nemesis touched down with a soft clunk. Looking out of the viewport the crew was greeted with the wide expanse of the Namekian landscape. Just in the distance they could make out one of the tendrils from the metal structure that was snaking its way across the surface. It was the only blemish on the otherwise pristine world.

Turning away from the picturesque landscape Frieza made his way over to Nadan who was already busy at his work station. "Are we close enough for you to get better readings?" Frieza asked the scientist who never broke eye contact with his machines.

"Yes I'm picking up several networks that I can force my way into, it will take time but I'm positive I can get in" Nadan stated with confidence. His hands were flying across the keys of one of his computers while a steady stream of information was appearing on his datapad.

"Excellent I want as much information as you can obtain" Frieza commanded before turning back to his assembled crew. "Alright Tukkan you will stay with the ship and keep Nadan safe, understood?" Frieza asked the Konatsian Chef who gave a playful mock salute in return. Turning to face Weiss, who stood beside her friends and Yang, Frieza knelt down and placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder. "The bird stays as well" Frieza stated to which Weiss solemnly nodded her head. Without warning Yang took to the air touching down beside Nadan who jumped at the bird's sudden appearance.

"Everyone else is coming with me, we're going to find the closest Namekians and see what this situation is" Frieza stated getting a nod from everyone. "Splendid… Shuyo?" Frieza called to the green monk who looked up after being addressed. "Lead the way" Frieza commanded with a wave of his hand. The seven warriors quickly disembarked The Nemesis forming up around Shuyo as he searched for the nearest group of Namekians. It didn't take long before Shuyo had pinpointed their position.

"There's a fairly large group about five miles that way" Shuyo stated pointing Northward with a grim expression.

Noticing the scowl on the verdant monk's face Cooler approached him from the side with a raised brow. "What's wrong?" The older Frost Demon asked, Shuyo was usually quite composed but the glower that now adorned his face was quite uncharacteristic of him.

"Something's causing them a great deal of distress, and I don't believe it was our landing" Shuyo muttered. "But I can't feel anything around them that might be causing this suffering" Shuyo spat bitterly. Say it was growing up on a planet where the misfortunate were pushed around and taken advantage of all the time, but something about what he was feeling set Shuyo's anger aflame.

"Another mystery, fantastic" Aayla sighed as she checked the communicator on her wrist. "Alright so since we have no clue what we're walking into I suggest we stay low and keep our power levels to a minimum, sound good?" Aayla's inquiry was met with a round of nods from those around her. "Perfect keep low and don't break cover, let's go see what's happening on this planet."

As per Aayla's request the seven of them took off on foot keeping low to the ground and regulating their power to keep themselves hidden as they made their approach. It took them three minutes of running but they eventually made their way to a plateau overlooking a Namekian village. As soon as they mounted the summit they quickly found cover on the overhang.

Aayla and Shuyo both dove into a prone position while Cooler and Frieza took up spots partially hidden behind rocks. Weiss, Tyr and Raijin made their way into the shrub like trees that overlooked the once quiet village. Their positions gave them all a clear view of what was left of the village and the surrounding farmland.

One look was like a sudden trip into Frieza's memories, the village was in ruins, smoking holes had been left in the houses and other buildings, not one building was left unscathed. The terrain was littered with craters, most of which were still smouldering from what little resistance the Namekians put up. Most of the Namekian farms had been completely uprooted and destroyed. It was almost like Frieza had gone back in time to when he first arrived on Namek the damage was identical to what the men under his command carried out.

A nudge to the ribs brought Frieza from his reverie, turning around Frieza glared at Cooler who pointed to something down below. Looking back to the village Frieza saw what his brother had been pointing at. What was left of the Namekians were walking in a single file line away from the village, their heads bowed as they were escorted from their homes. That was when Frieza noticed the Namekians' captors. On either side of the uniform line were hulking robots, the likes of which Frieza had never seen before.

Each robot appeared to be identical to the other, at over seven feet tall they were roughly the same height as Shuyo but they were easily twice as wide. They were all bipedal with thick white armour covering their chassis with a large amount being focused on their chests. Their arms were incredibly long, extending all the way down to their knees. The most striking feature about them had to be the bright red eye situated in the center of their elongated heads which seemed to stretch all the way to their back. Frieza didn't need Nadan to tell him that these machines were built for combat.

Frieza and his group watched in silence taking in the situation. Despite their distance they could make out an intense glare shining off the Namekians' wrists, they all appeared to be chained together. Frieza might have found the sight of an improvised chain-gang amusing if he wasn't busy trying to determine the identity of these robotic oppressors.

"This isn't good" Shuyo muttered from his position as the group watched the procession. In all his travels he had never come across such heavily armoured robots before. He had seen plenty of war droids and death bots but none of them quite had the same feel as these hulking machines.

"You can say that again, looks like they're being led to that giant metal thing" Aayla commented a wrinkle of disgust and anger on her face.

"We should save them now!" Weiss exclaimed from her position in the trees above.

"Hold for now we don't know what this is all about" Frieza commanded, Weiss slowly crouched back down, her anger never leaving her face.

"She's right Frieza we need to stop this, remember that you told us about the Dragon Balls, that they stop working when a certain Namekian dies?" Aayla stated, her Lakee twitching in irritation, she hated just sitting around doing nothing.

"Yes you're-" Frieza was cut off by the loud clang of shattering metal as one of the younger looking Namekians broke free of his shackles. Performing a quick role to the side he charged the nearest robot. With an angered yell he lashed out with a furious punch however his attack was halted immediately when the robot thrust its arm outward clasping the Namekian youth's face in its sharp claws.

"Frieza" Weiss growled, her teeth barred in anger at their inactivity.

"I said hold" Frieza commanded from his crouched position, he couldn't sense these robot's power levels he needed to get a sense of their strength somehow.

Without a word the robotic captor threw the young Namekian down to the ground with a harsh thud. He skidded through the dirt before coming to a halt his neck had been sprained from the throw but he was still breathing. As he looked up in confusion from the dirt, the young Namekian watched as the robot pointed its hand at him. Confusion turned to surprise and then fear as the claws on the robot's hand quickly pulled back making room for an enormous cannon. Time seemed to freeze for everyone watching save for a single Frost Demoness. Just as the robot fired its cannon at the helpless Namekian youth, Weiss disappeared in a burst of super speed.

Before the blast had even made it halfway to the downed youth, Weiss reappeared in between them kicking the energy blast up into the air where it detonated with a brilliant flash. Turning around Weiss knelt down to help the Namekian to his feet "are you ok?" She asked her voice laced with worry. The stunned Namekian could only nod his head in shock at his saviour, his Frost Demon saviour.

With a quick nod Weiss spun around to face the robotic assailant with a fire burning in her emerald eyes. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size you hunk of trash!?" The Demoness called out defiantly. The robotic invader merely stood in place completely impassive to the Demoness' challenge.

"Damn it!" Frieza cursed at his protégée's hotheadedness. "Well let's go after her" Frieza grumbled taking to the air with the rest of his group following just behind him.

Just as Frieza touched down beside Weiss more of the robotic invaders fell from the sky forming a straight line. Every single one of the new arrivals were identical to the rest. Just like the first not one of them made a sound, if it wasn't for their previous movement one could easily mistake them for statues.

"Not very talkative are they?" Aayla chuckled as she landed with the rest of the crew forming a line of their own in front of the Namekian prisoners.

"I never was a fan of robots" Shuyo muttered his arms crossed as he waited for the inevitable confrontation. Robots were impossible to read you could never know what was going on behind their metal chassis. To make matters worse Shuyo noticed that he couldn't sense their power levels. It wasn't surprising as Shuyo had only ever learned how to sense Ki which these automatons lacked but it was still an annoyance. Shuyo much preferred the company of organics.

As the standoff stretched on frantic whispers broke out among the Namekian prisoners that Frieza was doing his best to ignore.

"That's Frieza!"

"Impossible, Goku defeated him!"

"Defeated, not killed."

"What's he doing back here?"

"How dare he step foot here after all he's done."

"I'm scared."

Glancing backwards Shuyo regarded the prisoners and was disheartened by what he saw. Hate, fear, anger, grief, sorrow, all of these emotions were clearly etched into the green faces of the Namekian people. Shuyo couldn't blame them, after everything Frieza had done to them it was not surprising that they would have such strong feelings towards the Frost Demon. Looking back towards the robotic invaders Shuyo realised Frieza had once again tried to communicate with them.

"State your business on this planet at once, this entire sector is under the protection of the Planet Trade Organization" Frieza decreed slamming his tail down to emphasize his point. Despite the display the robots remained as still as statues not making a single move or sound. Shuyo noticed Frieza's anger rising, it really wasn't hard to get the Prince worked up in a normal situation but in this scenario things could escalate incredibly quickly.

"I must apologize, but my Cyclopian Guards are unable to speak, then again it's not like they have anything important to say" a voice called out from behind the line of robotic enforcers. Shuyo thought the voice sounded familiar but was distracted by the sudden surge of shock and dread emanating from Frieza, Cooler and Aayla.

"Impossible, you… you're dead!" Aayla cried in horror.

The sounds of heavy footsteps echoed across the landscape. Someone was approaching but was obscured by these Cyclopian Guards as the mystery speaker called them. Suddenly two of the guards broke ranks and moved to the side opening up a gap in their wall. As the new arrival stepped forward Shuyo realised exactly what had shocked Frieza, Cooler and Aayla so much.

"Now now Ms. Talon is that anyway to greet your old employer?" King Cold chuckled as he stepped forward, the gap in the robotic formation closing as he approached Frieza and his stunned group.

Frieza was dumbfounded he had felt the energy back on The Nemesis and it felt eerily familiar but there was no way that his father could be alive, yet here he was. Scanning his father's form Frieza quickly began taking in details. It looked like his father, if he was in his unsealed form, but gone was his once flawless ivory skin. Instead where there was once flesh now stood a strange silvery metal that glinted in the light. His navy-blue bio-gems were now composed of the same silvery metal, in fact it looked like his entire body was now comprised of that strange metal. The only thing that appeared to be unchanged were his eyes they were still the same piercing red but something about them still seemed off.

"What the hell happened to you?" Cooler questioned, the disgusted look on his face mirrored in the reflective frame of what his father had become. The older Frost Prince couldn't see how their father could have let anyone defile his body like that. King Cold spared his eldest son a quick glance before looking around at all those assembled before him.

"Well now isn't this a quaint little family reunion" King Cold chuckled, the same one that had always sent a shiver down Aayla's spine. "It's so nice to see you boys" Frieza and Cooler immediately dropped into fighting stances at those words, they had known their father for their entire lives, whatever this… thing was, it wasn't him.

"Who the hell are you" Frieza snarled at the doppelganger wearing their father's face. Frieza was doing his best to assess the situation, this whole turn of events was unprecedented. To make matters worse Frieza was being assaulted by Aayla's overflowing rage that she was just barely keeping in check. Their mental link was one of the few things in this universe that Frieza truly treasured but he had to admit that it could become detrimental on occasion.

"Come now Frieza, don't tell me you've forgotten your own father?" King Cold questioned, despite the synthesized quality to his voice, everything about it was as Frieza remembered. His inflections were identical, the way he addressed those around him with an air of barely hidden contempt was the same as ever, the only thing that was truly off was the choice of words. Something about the words he chose set Frieza's instincts on high alert.

"I understand the confusion you must be feeling, so allow me to explain" King Cold chuckled. "You see those filthy monkeys on Earth blasted me into their sun, that should have marked my end but as luck would have it I managed to just barely hold onto life." Cold smiled looking at everyone before him. "I drifted through the depths of space for who knows how long, my body nearly obliterated. Eventually my body passed through a debris field and once again it would seem luck was on my side" Cold smiled as he lifted his arm up to examine it, the sun glinting off its silver surface.

"You see that debris field was to be the final resting place of a small computer chip" Cold pinched his thumb and index finger together to illustrate his point. "That chip held an advanced artificial intelligence and it had begun to assimilate all the junk and debris around it to form a protective shell, that was when I came into the picture" Cold replied with an unnatural smile that put everyone on edge. "The chip would come across my ruined body and it proceeded to integrate me into its systems. I provided it with additional power and in return it gave me a brand new body to use, one that is far stronger than before" Cold proclaimed holding his arms wide. "Together we assimilated all the debris around us to form that magnificent structure you see before you, The Big Gete Star!"

A tense silence passed with neither side saying a word until Tyr decided to break the hush "that is a really stupid name."

Turning his crimson gaze to the young Dramon, Cold regarded him with a menacing gaze before turning away to look back to his sons. "With this new power I will once more subjugate the entire universe, I decided to begin with Namek, I deemed it to be a fitting starting point" Cold chuckled once more.

"So you came looking to take the Dragon Balls?" Frieza scoffed, his guard still raised, he didn't trust whatever this thing was.

"Dragon Balls?" Cold asked, looking at his youngest son in confusion. "Ah yes those magical artifacts that grant wishes" Cold chuckled waving off the idea with a smirk. "No, such nonsense will not be necessary, we will simply consume every ounce of energy on this planet and move on" it was at this point that Cold directed his attention to the huddled Namekians behind Frieza.

"What?! We need the Dragon Balls to restore our home we can't just leave them!" Frieza exclaimed in shock. His father would never simply turn down the possibilities that the Dragon Balls came with, this wasn't right.

"Fuar has been destroyed? What a pity" Cold shrugged as if the crown jewel of his own kingdom meant little more than the dirt under his three pronged foot. "Enough talk, come now boys, we need to get you integrated" Cold called out as he spun on his heel and began walking towards his Cyclopian Guards.

"Integrated?" Frieza snarled not liking the sound of that one bit.

"Well of course Cooler and you shall be joined with us, with your own power contributing to the Big Gete Star we shall rule the entire universe, no one will ever be able to defeat us again" Cold smiled back to his sons as he turned around to face them once more. Looking at the icy cold stares his sons were giving him, a frown crossed over the former monarch's face. "Don't tell me you're going to go against my wishes?" Cold asked. "Why else would you have landed on this planet, if not to become one with us?"

"That's not him" Cooler mumbled under his breath as this facsimile of their father, this Meta-Cold, looked on in mock confusion. "Father may have been an insufferable self-centred ass but he wouldn't just brush aside Fuar like that" Cooler continued, never breaking eye contact with Meta-Cold as he began approaching the group once more.

"Agreed, that may be father's new body but that machine's in control not him, he may not even realise it" Frieza hissed his anger rising with every step the robotic doppelganger took. Looking up to address Meta-Cold, Frieza pointed a finger at him with a menacing look upon his face. "We have come to restore our home, which is something that you of all people should desire more than anything, Fuar was your home, your kingdom and you would turn your back on it?" Frieza spat into the dirt in disgust.

"Looks like we're going nowhere with all this talk, very well instead I suppose I'll just have to subdue you, then you shall become one with us, whether you want to or not." Meta-Cold chuckled as Frieza's group dropped into fighting stances.

Frieza quickly shot a glance back towards the Namekians behind them who were looking on apprehensively. They would get caught in the crossfire no doubt and if one of them was the elder they might end up losing the Dragon Balls in the process. "Shuyo take the kids and keep the Namekians safe" Frieza called back to the verdant monk who looked at him in surprise before nodding his head in understanding.

"Guess that means we get a crack at dear old dad" Cooler chuckled as he cracked the knots out of his neck.

"That's not him, not really" said Frieza. Despite all the disagreements he and his father had in the past he was still family. "Killing him will be a mercy at this point" Frieza murmured as he began to power up. Their father was on life support with no hope for resuscitation, it was time to pull the plug.

"Won't feel any less satisfying when I watch him die for real" Aayla growled her own crimson aura swirling around her.

Both sides stared each other down in utter silence waiting for the other to make the first move. Meta-Cold and his army of Cyclopian Guards stood in perfect formation across from Frieza and his loyal crew who barred the path between the former Frost Monarch and the helpless Namekians behind them.

"Well enough with the theatrics, subdue them" Meta-Cold chortled as his guards rushed forward. Frieza, Cooler and Aayla sprang into action, passing in between the guards while Shuyo, Weiss, Raijin and Tyr held their ground and took the brunt of Meta-Cold's forces head on.

Aayla was first to reach Meta-Cold her aura a blazing tempest that matched her demeanour. Attacking from above with a snap kick Aayla looked to take the cybernetic Frost Demon's head clean off with one shot.

With a quick flick of his head Cold dodged to the side leaving Aayla exposed as Meta-Cold's hand shot out to grab her by the face. Hefting the Securan into the air Cold slammed her down with a tremendous thud that formed a crater underneath them. "You'll have to do better than that my dear" Meta-Cold grinned maliciously as a sphere of pale blue energy formed in the palm of his hand.

Before he could complete his attack Frieza and Cooler both arrived at the same time attacking from both sides. Breaking away from the dazed Aayla, Meta-Cold put some distance between himself and his sons firing an energy wave to separate the two. As Cooler moved out of the way of the attack he couldn't help but feel something was very wrong about the robotic doppelganger.

Frieza was the first to attack unleashing a series of Death Beams to pin down the cybernetic monarch's position. Unfortunately Meta-Cold seemed to be one step ahead dodging in and out of the Frost Prince's line of fire. Cooler took this opportunity to drop down from above with a Death Flash at the ready in his left hand. Cooler initiated his attack looking to stomp the metallic imposter into the dirt but was caught off guard when Meta-Cold easily sidestepped the attack.

Undeterred Cooler thrust his hand forward unleashing his Death Flash at point blank range. As fast as Cooler was it didn't seem to matter as Meta-Cold's hand shot out to grasp his eldest son's wrist. Lifting his arm into the air to divert the attack Meta-Cold slammed a knee into Cooler's exposed midsection doubling the Prince over in pain before following with an elbow to the back of the head that flipped Cooler onto his back.

"Gamma Impact!" Aayla roared, her body surrounded with her crimson Ki. The angered Securan slammed into Meta-Cold knocking him away from his eldest son. Meta-Cold braced against the rush attack, his three pronged feet digging into the dirt as Aayla pushed forward with gritted teeth. As Aayla's forward momentum died away Frieza appeared at her side coiling his tail around his Meta-Cold's ankle.

With a confident smirk Meta-Cold pulled his ankle back tugging Frieza forward into a vicious headbutt that floored the stunned Frost Demon. Meta-Cold then turned his attention back to Aayla who was still desperately trying to push the cybernetic demon back. Quickly sliding to the side Cold broke contact with the enraged Securan who kept going forward. Using his lightning fast reflexes Meta-Cold grabbed hold of Aayla's exposed leg.

Flipping the Securan over his head, Meta-Cold slammed Aayla down on top of Frieza, who had just gotten back to his feet, flattening both fighters with one move. Before he could slam Aayla down a second time though Cooler jumped back into the fray attacking with a series of jabs that Meta-Cold easily avoided and blocked. Switching stances Cooler attacked with a left hook that Cold caught with ease before attacking with a sharp leg kick that brought a grimace of pain to the elder Frost Prince.

The cybernetically enhanced Frost Demon followed with a jab of his own to Cooler's neck eliciting a gurgled choke. Before Cooler could recover, Meta-Cold connected with his own left hook before transitioning into a brutal knee that caught Cooler on the bridge of his nose and sent the older Frost Prince tumbling backwards.

Landing beside Frieza and Aayla, who were now back on their feet, Cooler grumbled as he righted himself. "Since when did father actually know how to fight?" Cooler growled as Meta-Cold quickly approached them.

Hearing Cooler's complaint only widened the smug grin on Meta-Cold's pristine face. "The Big Gete star has given me many gifts, every fighting style has since been added to my database" Meta-Cold chuckled at the shocked look on his opponent's faces. Frieza grimaced at the prospect, if their father had one weakness, apart from his unabashed ego, it would have to be his lack of any formal training or fighting technique. If The Big Gete Star erased that weakness then this was going to be even tougher than he had originally believed.

"We attack together, none of this one-on-one garbage, he can't handle all three of us" Aayla growled vehemently. Both Frost Demons on either side of her nodded in agreement before charging forward in an explosion of energy.

"So looking to exploit a number's advantage?" Meta-Cold chuckled in amusement. "How cute" he mused as he braced for the incoming trio. Aayla was the first to attack lashing out with an axe-kick while Frieza ducked underneath for an uppercut. Aayla's kick connected with Meta-Cold's shoulder but had almost no effect as the cybernetic Frost Demon braced against the attack. Frieza's own attack was similarly ineffective as Cold caught the strike in the palm of his hand.

With his attention focused on Frieza and Aayla, Cooler attacked from behind driving a knee into the fatherly facsimile's back. The strike knocked Cold off balance allowing the trio to unleash a barrage of strikes from all sides. But despite having their metal opponent surrounded on all sides Meta-Cold was still managing to hold his own. With an almost masterful grace that he never showed in the past Cold avoided, blocked and deflected almost every strike thrown at him. The strikes he didn't defend against impacted against his chassis leaving nary a scratch.

 _What the hell is this asshole made of?_ Aayla hissed at Frieza through their link.

 _No idea, but keep attacking I would rather not find out what being integrated with that machine feels like!_ Frieza retorted angrily. Frieza winced as he felt the surge of pain from his partner as she nearly broke her fist on Meta-Cold's shining face.

Rushing forward to cover Aayla, Frieza flew directly into a vicious backhand from the cybernetic frost monarch. It didn't look like much but it still sent Frieza careening through a rocky plateau in the distance. With only two targets to focus on for the moment Meta-Cold began going on the offensive, ducking under a straight right from his eldest son the frost tyrant unleashed a brutal combination in retaliation. Cooler felt all the air leave his lungs as Meta-Cold slammed a barrage of punches into his chest, nearly collapsing his sternum in the process. With a quick front flip Meta-Cold crashed his metal tail into Cooler's collarbone with a sickening crunch. The blow sent the frost prince hurtling into the waters below creating a sizeable wave with his impact.

Rather than wait for the others to regroup Aayla poured on another burst of strength and dashed forward. Everything Cold did to her in his service, every atrocious action he forced her to commit, the destruction of her world and the deaths of her people, she would make him pay for it all. Waiting for her with a smug smirk Meta-Cold simply stood there waiting for her to attack, his own amused expression juxtaposed the mask of hate the enraged Securan now wore.

As Aayla attacked in a red tinted fury she seemed to gain a temporary advantage, her strikes were actually pushing Meta-Cold backwards. However this was only due the cybernetic Frost Demon's own shock at the intensity of the Securan's attack. A quick adjustment and Meta-Cold had turned the tables on Aayla forcing her back with ease. His punches and kicks were just a hair faster than her own and every time she looked to make contact with the metal tyrant she was consistently countered with a crushing metal blow.

"I see you've improved immensely my dear" Meta-Cold chuckled as he stuffed a combination with one hand before countering with a gut shot with the other. The blow knocked all the momentum out of the Securan who clutched her stomach in agony, that punch damn near ruptured an organ! With lightning fast reflexes Cold's hand snaked outwards catching the Securan by the throat and hauling her up to meet his icy crimson gaze. "Perhaps if you had been this strong when we first met you could have saved your world… Perhaps then they wouldn't have shunned you like a pariah" Meta-Cold's sadistic grin grew as he tightened his grip on Aayla's neck.

 _Aayla get down now!_ Frieza roared through their link. Feeling what was coming Aayla unleashed a pair of energy beams from her eyes. The twin crimson beams pierced through Meta-Cold's hand loosening his grip enough to allow Aayla to wrench her neck away from the cybernetic Frost Demon.

Just as Aayla fell away from the metal tyrant's grasp her eyes widened as a purple disk of Ki hurtled past her, passing by her face by an inch. Cold, distracted by Aayla's surprise attack, looked up in shock, just in time to watch the Death Saucer impact him head on. Without slowing down, Frieza's deadly attack carved through Meta-Cold with an ear piercing screech of rending metal. The look of horror and shock on the frost tyrant's face was frozen in place as he came apart in two perfectly symmetrical pieces. Cut vertically in half both sides of Meta-Cold fell to the ground with a crash that echoed throughout the hillside.

Still in shock from what she had just witnessed Aayla plummeted to the ground and would have slammed into it herself if she didn't fall into Frieza's waiting arms. _It's ok I have you_ Frieza comforted the still stunned Securan.

Just as Frieza touched down, allowing Aayla to regain her footing, Cooler burst from the waters in an angered huff his purple aura surging around him. He looked from left to right wildly until his eyes came upon Frieza, Aayla and the now bifurcated Meta-Cold. His aura quickly vanished as he rushed to their side to see what had become of their metal opponent.

"Where the hell were you?" Frieza exclaimed as Cooler touched down beside the pair.

"Taking a bath, what the hell does it look like!? He hit's very hard!" Cooler fired back, his nostrils flaring at his brother's accusatory glance. Looking down at their father's ruined form quenched Cooler's anger as he took in what had just transpired. "After we're off this planet I will never step foot here again, our family seems to have a habit of being cut in half here" Cooler chuckled at his own dark humour which only received an agitated scowl from his brother.

"Hilarious, let's go check on the others" Frieza muttered before spinning on his heel. He had thought about staying a bit longer, after all he had just murdered his own father. But upon further reflection Frieza decided against it, his father had died at the hands of the Saiyan's three years ago. This metal doppelganger was nothing more than a shadow of the real thing.

As the trio began walking back to the Namekian village, where the sounds of battle still emanated, they were brought to a halt by the sound of a metallic screeching. Spinning around their eyes widened in horror at what they saw. The two halves of Meta-Cold were being drawn together by metallic tendrils that connected the two pieces. Both sides of Meta-Cold came together with a loud clack, a moment of silence passed before Cold's eyes snapped open.

Leaping to his feet Meta-Cold chuckled at the horrified expressions of the trio before him. "Don't look so shocked, did you really think it would be that easy?" Meta-Cold chuckled, the evil glint in his eyes sending a shiver down everyone's spine. Crouching into a fighting stance Cold's smirk shifted to a manic grin "alright then, who wants to die first?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes: Hello everyone I'm back and so is King Cold! I knew that when I was thinking of which movies to use the Meta-Cooler was a must have. Of course Cooler's didn't get blasted into the sun this time around so that left Cold the only logical choice to fill that void. **

**I've had a few questions about whether Frieza and Company are going to cross pass with the Z-Fighters here and alas I must say no. What I've done is a small change to the timeline, so according to the DBZ timeline between May 17th and May 25th of age 767 is when Return of Cooler occurs. By this point Cell's now reached perfect form and everyone's waiting for the Cell Games. I've moved back the date a bit slightly I'm thinking May 12th (The androids are first revealed). Since it was Cold that was blasted away instead of Cooler it would have happened much sooner in the timeline so he would have naturally arrived at New Namek before the Cooler did. Also because of this Dende's still on Namek and so can't relay the info to Goku to go save the Namekians.**

 **So next chapter will be the gang dealing with Meta-Cold, with him putting himself back together every time. I sometimes disliked how much they used that trick in DBZ, but I can see how it would make everyone more formidable. Cell had the perfect combination of Saiyan, Namekian and Frost Demon biology. Majin Buu had… Magic I guess? And Meta-Cooler/Meta-Cold has Nanomachines son!**

 **Alright enough with the stupid jokes, I got to thank you guys once again for your patience with the story it's quite the endeavour and unfortunately I've been busy as hell lately. I managed to get the whole day off and basically told myself you are finishing this chapter today and that's that! Were now passed 30k views and that's just awesome seeing so many people reading the story.**

 **Hope you guys are also doing well out there and that you're enjoying the story because I enjoy reading your comments they always manage to bring a smile to my face.**

 **Until next time folks take care!**


	26. Chapter 26 - Fall Of The Machines

_Access Denied_

"Are you kidding me?!" Nadan hissed. He had been attempting to gain access to the Big Gete Star's systems since they had landed and so far had been completely unsuccessful. He was starting to think it would be easier to simply walk into the massive station itself to obtain the information he was looking for.

 _Access Denied_

"You ok over there Nad?" Tukkan called out from his own station. While Nadan was busy trying to break through the Big Gete Star's near impregnable cyber defences Tukkan had been given the task of monitoring the rest of the team. The moment they had landed Nadan had dispersed some of his surveillance drones to recon the area. Now that the fighting was underway Tukkan was able to use the drones to keep track of the rest of the crew.

 _Access Denied_

"Does it sound like I'm ok!?" Nadan called back to the Konatsian chef. "This is by far one of the most impressive artificial intelligences I've ever seen, it actually acts like a sentient lifeform's brain" Nadan stated as he hammered in another set of commands.

 _Access Denied_

"Isn't that a good thing?" Tukkan asked uncertainly looking up from the monitors to his stressed out friend.

 _Access Denied_

"It would be if it wasn't so aggravating to deal with!" Nadan howled in fury at yet another failed attempt.

 _It would appear that you are failing to access the Big Gete Star's network, would you like to send an error report?_

"That's it! I can deal with an AI besting me, but the moment it starts sassing me is where I draw the line!" Nadan exclaimed slamming his fist down on the console in rage. Jumping from his seat Nadan stormed over to Tukkan's station with Yang following just behind. "Ugh, how are they doing?" Nadan grumbled as he plopped himself down into an adjacent seat.

"Not great" Tukkan said as he flicked between drone footage stopping at the one monitoring the village from the cliffs. "So here we got Shuyo and the kids they're taking on those one eyed robots" Tukkan said pointing out the combatants on the screen. "This shouldn't be a problem for Shuyo but he keeps having to break off his attacks to go help someone else. Those Cycloptic Soldiers-"

"Cyclopian Guards" Nadan corrected.

"Yeah I know but that name's stupid, so is Big Gete Star but whatever" Tukkan grumbled flicking through different shots. "So yeah those robots keep trying to get at the Namekians so Shuyo keeps breaking off to defend them" as if in response to Tukkan's statement Shuyo broke away from finishing off a damaged Guard to intercept three others that were attempting to charge the Namekians.

"What about Weiss and the others?" Nadan asked. Hearing the young Demoness' name Yang's head shot up and she quickly hopped on top of the console to watch the battles.

"Weiss is doing fine but she's got the same problem as Shuyo, she has to keep jumping in to help out Tyr and Raijin" Tukkan said with a scowl. "The problem is they're getting swarmed every one of those bots they take down is immediately replaced."

"Great… what about Lord Frieza?" Nadan asked from his seat with Yang hanging her head on his shoulder.

"Oh you're gonna love this, so Cold was kicking their asses pretty badly, so Frieza blindsides him with a Death Saucer cuts him right down the middle" Tukkan chuckled at the shocked look on Nadan's face. "Then get this, those two pieces, they just snap back together and bam Cold's good as new, now he's back to kicking their asses again" Tukkan flicked the screens over to Frieza's fight with Meta-Cold.

On the screen was the gruesome sight of Frieza and Aayla pulling both of Meta-Cold's arms apart while Cooler attacked from the front, literally punching his way through his cybernetic father. As soon as Cooler passed through the smashed pieces of Meta-Cold, tendrils darted out between the shattered remains pulling him back together.

Pulling his arms together Meta-Cold pulled both Frieza and Aayla towards him driving an elbow into Frieza's face while Aayla had her legs taken out from under her by Cold's metal leg. "Yeah that's basically been the whole fight so far, they smash him up he puts himself back together and knocks the stuffing out of them" Tukkan sighed as Meta-Cold grabbed Cooler by the face and drove it into the ground.

"This is remarkable!" Nadan exclaimed running some of the footage of the fight back.

"Yeah I was pretty surprised too, Frieza can take quite a beating" Tukkan chuckled while his frantic friend ran through the footage watching it frame by frame.

"Not that! This!" Nadan exclaimed showing Meta-Cold's body restructuring itself. "This is the most astonishing nanotechnology I have ever seen!" Nadan was practically vibrating in his seat he was so excited. "This is decades ahead of the most advanced nanotech available!"

"Can they beat it? Because it's not looking good on their end" Tukkan grimaced as Aayla took an energy blast to the chest.

Nadan fell silent as he looked back at the battle his Lord was involved in. "I need to get into the Star's systems" Nadan muttered.

 _Access Denied_

"Shut up!" Nadan roared back at his work station. It was clear that if he couldn't get into the Big Gete Star's systems then the combination of Cold's raw power mixed with the advanced nanotech would surely lead to their defeat. But every attempt he made on the massive structure seemed to be thwarted at every turn. He needed a way in, he needed a way to sneak inside, he needed…

"Tukkan!" Nadan exclaimed startling both Yang and his Konatsian friend with his outburst. Before the chef could even open his mouth Nadan was already on his datapad drawing up figures and programs. "I need you to do something for me" Nadan asked as he hurriedly brought up the scans he had obtained of the Cyclopian Guards.

"Sure thing pal, lay it on me" Tukkan said getting up from his station just to have his vacated seat immediately filled by Yang who started watching the screens intently.

"Alright I have some basic scans of the Cyclopian Guards that my drones were able to obtain" Nadan stated showing his friend the information he had gathered. "What I want you to do is subdue one of them and bring back its core in one piece" Nadan requested putting his datapad back into his pocket for the time being.

"Wait why don't you just ask Shuyo to do it for you?" Tukkan asked, running a hand through his silver hair.

"Because no one around here, save for Aayla, listens to me when I say they need a communicator on them" Nadan grumbled irritably. "Now can I count on you to do this for me?" Nadan pressed, he didn't enjoy relying on others but what other choice did he have?

"You can always count on me pal" Tukkan grinned, gripping the Malakan scientist in a friendly headlock. "Now when you say core what do you mean exactly?" Tukkan asked removing himself from the flustered scientist.

"Each one of those Guards must have some form of… you know what I won't bother with the technical explanation, just grab one, rip off its arms and legs and bring it back here I'll take care of the rest" Nadan stated going back to his station to prepare.

"Sounds simple enough, alright Yang I'm leaving you in charge!" Tukkan called out to the golden bird who trilled back in response. "Be back in no time" Tukkan called out before leaving the bridge in a rush.

With a drawn out sigh Nadan slumped in his seat, the stress of the situation was really eating away at him. "He just has to rip off its arms and legs so it can't move and bring it back, he can do that right?" Nadan asked looking over to Yang who seemed to tilt her head to the side as a sign of uncertainty. Looking back down at his datapad that now showed a limited scan of King Cold's new metal body a lump of trepidation began to swell in Nadan as he looked over the schematics "I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

"Come on dolt get up!" Weiss exclaimed as she helped Tyr back to his feet. The battle had started off easily enough with Shuyo and Weiss dealing with the brunt of the Cyclopian Guards with Tyr and Raijin running cleanup. The problem was they never seemed to let up, for every robot they took down another would take its place. To make matters worse both Tyr and Raijin were running out of steam meaning Weiss had to continuously jump in to protect them.

"I got this, I got this" Tyr gasped straightening up. He had fought powerful opponents before but nothing could have prepared him for the gauntlet they were dealing with now. "How's Rai?" Tyr asked as he glanced around for the young Zamt. Tyr got his answer when they heard the cry of pain emanate from behind them. Raijin had fallen back to protect the Namekians with his barriers but the swarm of Cyclopian Guards was making short work of them.

"I'll take care of them, you stick close to Shuyo" Weiss commanded before taking off towards Raijin in a blur of emerald energy. "Hey you jerks why don't you try picking on someone who can fight back!?" Weiss called out to the robotic attackers who all turned in unison. Dodging a volley of cannon fire Weiss rose into the air to unleash her Gorgeous Beam from her elevated position, the piercing eye beams tore through the first row of Guards while the rest charged through the smoke to engage the determined Demoness.

Ducking under the first robot's punch, Weiss lashed out with a quick jab smashing through the Guard's shining red eye. No sooner had that one fallen than another stepped in to take its place while two more flanked from either side. Rushing upwards Weiss dodged their combined attacks and flipped around to take the leading robot's back. Placing her palm on the back of the Cyclopian Guard's chassis Weiss unleashed a powerful Ki blast that erupted from the Guard's chest to slam into the head of another taking it clean off.

Before the two attackers had even begun to fall, two more Guards attacked one from above and one from below. Weiss blocked the first punch from the one above but was caught off guard as the one underneath her grabbed her by the ankle tugging her out of the air. Weiss impacted against the ground kicking up a massive dust cloud while the Guards charged at her from above.

Before the Guards could capitalize on her compromised position Weiss took to the air once more dodging another volley of cannon fire and countering with a burst of Ki blasts. Weiss grit her teeth as her volley only seemed to dent the exterior of the Guard's armour plating. By no means were these robots invincible but they were armoured enough that it took a significant Ki blast to penetrate their armour. Luckily Weiss had been saving something just for this type of situation, her only regret was that Frieza wouldn't get to see it firsthand.

Pointing her index finger at the closest enemy Weiss grinned as her power focused at its tip, a brilliant emerald speck. "Shining Death Beam!" Weiss yelled as the piercing beam of emerald Ki fired from her extended fingertip. The Cyclopian Guard's single robotic eye widened in surprise just as Weiss' beam pierced through its metal casing. There was next to no resistance and just as soon as the beam appeared it dissipated leaving a seared hole in the robotic invader's face.

Whipping her finger around to point at the next Guard in line Weiss prepared another beam for the seemingly never-ending swarm of adversaries. "Alright who's next?" The young Demoness called out to her opponents.

Breaking away from Raijin and the Namekians the Cyclopian Guards rushed Weiss, some having taken to the air while others were speeding across the ground using the treads in their feet. Weiss began unleashing Death Beams at a rhythmic pace, each Cyclopian Guard she pointed at went down in a shower of sparks and metal.

The first of the advancing group made it to Weiss having to literally step over the shattered remains of its comrades to do so and was met with a ferocious punch that ripped its left arm off. Undeterred the robotic attacker lashed out with a wide sweep of its clawed arm. With her smaller stature Weiss easily ducked under the sweep and countered with a push kick to the Cyclopian Guard's knee.

Though the attack of the first Guard had been thwarted the damage had been done and Weiss now found herself surrounded by over a dozen robotic adversaries. Starting by firing a Death Beam to the side Weiss followed by kicking the damaged guard in front of her into its compatriots knocking two of them to the ground. Weiss next managed to dodge a series of punches from her right only to get caught with a wide sweeping strike to the back of the head.

Somewhat stunned from the attack Weiss razed her guard just in time for the volley of cannon fire that followed. The cannons on their own weren't anything special but with over a dozen of them firing simultaneously Weiss could feel their combined strength taking their toll on her stamina.

"Enough of this" Weiss grunted under the sustained fire. With a burst of energy Weiss took to the sky once more to get out of the robot's line of fire. With her eyes scrunched together she blasted through the dust cloud kicked up by the cannon fire. Blasting through the debris Weiss looked to put some distance between herself and the robotic horde that had steadily gathered around her.

Not missing a step the Cyclopian Guards were right on her tail following her straight into the sky. Focusing her energy in both hands Weiss turned around with a crackling ball of emerald Ki in her hands and a wicked smile on her face. "Gleaming Death!" Weiss shouted unleashing a massive wave of energy that engulfed her pursuers. The fierce Ki blast left a charred crater where it had impacted but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

Before Weiss could even register her handiwork she felt Raijin's energy take a drastic dip. Turning back around Weiss began to race towards her friend when she was blindsided by more of the Cyclopian Guards who had just dropped in. Using their weight the robotic attackers forced Weiss back to the ground slamming her into the crater she had just formed.

As Weiss tried to regain her footing another hulking robot slammed down on top of Weiss driving her into the ground with its massive feet. Gritting her teeth Weiss prepared to fire her Gorgeous Beam upwards when the weight of the Guard was suddenly lifted off of her.

"You ok?" Tyr called out to Weiss as he pried the Cyclopian Guard's eye from its head in an explosion of sparks.

"I'm fine, I told you to stick with Shuyo" Weiss grumbled as she climbed out of the hole she had been embedded into.

"I am" Tyr said and gestured with a flick of his tail to the right. Weiss looked over in time to see Shuyo furiously tearing into the horde of Cyclopian Guards as they tried to push past him and Raijin to get at the Namekians behind them.

"Why are they still here?!" Weiss complained as she fired another round of Death Beams into the throng of robots. Didn't they realise that if the Namekians retreated or hid then Shuyo and the others wouldn't have to keep looking after them?

"I think some of them are hurt!" Tyr called over his shoulder. He was locked hand to hand with one of the Guards and was slowly being pushed back by the bulkier combatant. With an annoyed grunt Tyr struck with his tail, the serrated edge piercing the glass of the Cyclopian Guard's eye.

"Of course they are" Weiss sighed before rushing to where Shuyo and Raijin were trying to defend against the robotic swarm. Before she had even made it halfway though, Weiss was waylaid by yet another group of The Big Gete Star's forces. "Damn it!" The Demoness cursed as the group of Guards pushed her back with a flurry of strikes. She would have to deal with this new nuisance before rejoining with Shuyo and Raijin, luckily from her position it looked like Shuyo had a firm grasp of the situation.

Shuyo was working as fast as he could against the swarming horde, his fists flying out with deadly precision. A quick palm strike sent one Guard hurtling into a group of advancing robots, rather than appreciate the picture perfect attack Shuyo had to immediately jump back driving his foot through the back of one robot that had managed to get past him and Raijin.

Spinning back to face the never ending tide of robotic assailants Shuyo grit his teeth as he unleashed another flurry of punches that left yet another group of robots in pieces. At this rate they were going to wind up buried underneath all the scrap metal left behind by the Cyclopian Guards. Looking out of the corner of his eye Shuyo could see Raijin panting and struggling to crush a Guard in between his Ki barriers.

Shuyo had already brought up the possibility of Raijin retreating but the young Zamt had shot down the idea vehemently. As long as his friends were fighting so was he, it was admirable if not a little foolhardy.

Driving his fist through the head of one Guard Shuyo cursed as two more made their way past Raijin and charged straight for the Namekian villagers. Before Shuyo could move to intercept one lucky Guard managed to lock its arms underneath Shuyo's and over his head from behind trapping the verdant monk in a full-nelson.

With a shrill cry Raijin blasted the Guard he was dealing with back with a Ki blast before racing after the charging duo. "Ion Spear!" Raijin shouted hurling a compressed beam of silver Ki that pierced through the back of the first Guards head. That Guard exploded in a shower of metal and fire, the shrapnel from the blast surprised Raijin opening up numerous cuts along his body and face as he charged into the cloud.

The second attacker never slowed down, even when its comrade exploded just to its right. With Shuyo still held back by its brethren and Raijin stunned by the blast of shrapnel it was left with a free shot on the helpless Namekians. The charging Cyclopian Guard raised its cannon and took aim, however it never got a chance to fire as several Namekians unleashed Ki blasts of their own shredding the Guard under the sheer volume of their attacks.

With a satisfied grin Shuyo bucked his head back slamming it into his robotic captor's face. The Guard's grip abated as its face crumpled under the force of the strike and Shuyo used that time to drop down and grab hold of the robot's leg. The stoic monk used his grip on the robotic attacker's leg to hurl it into an advancing group of its comrades before unleashing a concentrated Ki blast into them obliterating those unlucky enough to be caught in its explosion. If the Namekians could defend themselves from the stragglers that made it past him and Raijin then they wouldn't have to constantly break their line to pick off those few that made it past them.

The real problem was that Shuyo could have finished this battle a long time ago but the risk of doing irreversible damage to the Namekian landscape was too great. They just got this planet back, the last thing Shuyo wanted to do was wreck it by accident. So with that in mind the stoic monk stuck to physical strikes and small to medium Ki blasts to keep their forces at bay.

Spinning around to connect with an elbow strike Shuyo felt his arm snag as one of the Guards grabbed hold of his arm to halt his attack. Before he could attack that one another had secured his other arm while a third charged in from the front. With an uncharacteristic snarl Shuyo brought his arms together smashing both Guards into the advancing third in a shower of metal and sparks. However before those three had even finished exploding Shuyo was swarmed by another group of Guards being driven back to the ground.

It seemed the robots had realised that attacking the Namekians was pointless if they couldn't first deal with Shuyo and the kids. Shuyo could take a small amount of pride knowing that he was such a threat that King Cold's forces had no choice but to deal with him. Shuyo had long ago realised how enjoyable it was to be a thorn in the side of despots and tyrants.

Unleashing a powerful Kiai Shuyo forced the swarming robots back only for them to immediately surge towards him once more with renewed aggression. Shuyo grit his teeth as he punched a hole through one of their chests. With each felled enemy Shuyo's thoughts were brought back more and more to unleashing some serious firepower. But was destroying these Guards quickly worth leveling the entire Namekian countryside?

Smashing his way through the group that had pinned him down Shuyo looked up to see that some of the Namekian warriors had taken up a defensive position beside Raijin but were quickly being knocked back and blasted aside by the steadily advancing mechanical horde. Lunging forward Shuyo quickly joined beside the others unleashing a quick barrage of Ki blasts that left a hole in their lines, one that was promptly filled.

Shuyo was doing his best to keep track of the flow of battle with what little information he could gather with his limited senses. The Namekian warriors were on their last legs already as was Raijin who was bleeding from several cuts across his face. Tyr was running low himself, but as tenacious as ever, the Dramon youth pushed on as best he could. He had joined back with Weiss who was still going strong, though she was quite agitated by the never ending enemies, Shuyo couldn't blame her.

But it was what he was sensing just off in the distance that had him truly worried. Frieza, Aayla and Cooler's Ki signatures were fluctuating wildly, though it was three on one they were getting worn down by their opponent. Whatever The Big Gete Star had done to King Cold it was giving the trio an unprecedented amount of difficulty. The immense power being unleashed by Cooler alone told Shuyo the older Frost Prince had pushed himself to his fifth form, Shuyo could only hope it would be enough.

Though his mind drifted away for just a brief moment, a moment was all the Cyclopian Guards needed to push forward and break the defender's line. The Namekian warriors were completely overwhelmed, many of them getting knocked unconscious or captured by their mechanical opponents. Shuyo himself took a hard punch that drove him back into the cliff behind them, luckily Tyr was there to fill his spot while he recovered from the hit.

As the smoke and dirt around him cleared Shuyo's eyes fell on a wrinkled green hand stretched out before him. Standing with a grim look stood an elder Namekian, he was a little on the stocky side and wore a white scarf typical of his people along with a red vest that ran to his knees. If it weren't for the grim look on the man's face Shuyo would have believed him to be quite the jovial soul.

"Thank you" Shuyo said taking the man's hand. With a surprisingly strong tug he helped haul the verdant monk to his feet.

"I apologize if I seem a tad wary around you, it's just…" The elder Namekian trailed off looking back to the raging battle. From where they stood Shuyo could have sworn he was starting at Weiss who had now taken to the air unleashing emerald Death Beam's with brutal precision leaving a trail of destroyed robots wherever her finger fell.

"You've had a history with Frieza" Shuyo said to which the elder nodded. Placing a hand on the man's shoulder Shuyo smiled at him in an attempt to alleviate his spirits. "Quite a bit has changed since then" Shuyo continued taking a few steps towards the battle the kids needed his help.

"Before you go my boy I have to ask… why are you holding back?" The elder Namekian asked with a raised brow.

Caught off guard by the blunt statement Shuyo staggered as he looked back to the elder. "I… well… you see…" Shuyo stammered, the Namekian's insight had caught him completely off guard.

"Ahh I see, you are worried about the damage you would cause" the elder chuckled at the uncertain look on Shuyo's face. "Think nothing of it my boy, a little damage to the landscape is nothing to get worked up over, destroyed land can be replaced, lives cannot" the elder advised.

Nodding his head in agreement Shuyo looked at the battle before them, he had been gone for far too long Weiss and Tyr were now holding back the entire attack force on their own. Shuyo could just spot Raijin off to the side being attended to by a lone Namekian child. Turning back to the elder, Shuyo locked his gaze with the man. "Get your people to safety, if you can please take care of the little one over there" Shuyo gestured to the still down Raijin.

"Ah yes I see Dende's already taking care of your companion. And yes I'll get everyone else away from here" said the elder with a smile. "You just be careful out there."

"I will" Shuyo nodded before beginning to walk off, as he began powering up he called back to the elder, his voice slightly shaky from his increasing power "by the way the name's Shuyo!"

"A pleasure to meet you Shuyo, I am Moori" the elder said with a smile before rushing over to the rest of his people.

Shuyo took a second to make sure they were free to retreat before he pushed his strength forward an extra step. Shuyo felt a surge of relief as the one Moori had called Dende scooped up Raijin and flew him away, the boy was in safe hands.

While he hadn't used this much power in a real fight since his climatic battles with Cooler and Frieza, Shuyo had to admit it felt good to cut loose, as Tyr would put it. Shuyo's Ki surged outward surrounding his body in a brilliant orange glow. Shuyo could feel a small, self-satisfied smirk spread across his face as he felt his power rising, training alongside Cooler so much had done wonders for his own strength. Then again achieving the strength needed to go toe to toe with Cooler's fifth form was no easy feat. It had been grueling work but the results… well Shuyo could attest that hard work did indeed pay off.

With every step Shuyo's fiery Ki ignited the ground underneath him scorching the grass and burning the rock. Weiss and Tyr's mouths dropped as they felt the enormous surge of energy the verdant monk was putting out though they were quick to recover as they were still doing their best to keep back the Cyclopian Guards.

The first row of Guards that noticed Shuyo immediately came to an abrupt halt, no doubt their scanners had picked up on the monk's power. In unison the group of a dozen raised their arms, their fingers folding back and the palms of their hands opening to reveal the massive cannons built within. Shuyo's smirk widened as they released the first volley, he could have brought up a shield, he could have dodged the attacks, he could have simply deflected them but instead he just let them impact against his body.

He had learned many things in the three years he had now been alongside Frieza and the others. Frieza had shown him that sometimes a little theatricality was needed to send a message. So when Shuyo stepped through the dust cloud completely unscathed, his fiery Ki still swirling around him like a firestorm, he grinned seeing the, normally undaunted, robotic horde take a step back in surprise. Cooler had shown Shuyo that sometimes being efficient and ending a fight immediately was the best course of action, leaving the enemy open for a comeback was an unnecessary risk. So Shuyo began channeling a massive amount of energy into the palm of his hand, the condensed fire ball only kept in check by Shuyo's curled fingers which kept the blast held back.

But it was Aayla that helped show him that fighting didn't always need to be serious, that you could have fun at times. So as Shuyo's energy reached its zenith, the verdant monk decided to dub this new attack. "Blaze Cannon!" Shuyo shouted as he released the hold on his fiery energy. The Blaze Cannon erupted from the palm of Shuyo's hand like a volcano. The fiery energy surged forward in an unrelenting torrent. The first line of Cyclopian Guards attempted to retreat but were held back by their comrades behind them, their bulk had sealed their fate.

Weiss and Tyr looked on in shock, the moment they had felt Shuyo's incredible energy they had immediately taken to the air. They knew Shuyo would never mean them any harm but with that much power being thrown around they didn't want to be anywhere near it. The surge of energy washed over the robotic invaders, those closest to the blast were turned to ash instantly while those in the middle watched their chassis' melt before their very optics. Those at the rear were blown away by the conflagration, most exploding on impact while others were shredded by the sheer force being released.

As the intense light and smoke began to dissipate Weiss couldn't believe her eyes. Everything in front of Shuyo for almost a mile had been completely decimated. The heat of the blast had literally turned the ground itself to solid shining glass. The only survivors, if you could call them that, were the smashed remains of several Guards that had been blown away by the immense power Shuyo unleashed most of those were embedded in the sides of cliffs or buried in mounds of rubble.

Back on the ground Shuyo let out a small sigh, he had never unleashed such a ferocious blast before, it was never really needed as such an attack was one of pure destruction. However Shuyo could now see the undeniable appeal of such large scale attacks. The rush of such power was nothing short of exhilarating. His only regret was that unfortunately he had ruined what looked like a solid square mile of Namekian landscape in the process.

Looking down Shuyo was surprised to see what was left of a Cyclopian Guard grabbing hold of his leg. The poor wreck of a robot had been blown to pieces with the only surviving parts being half its torso, a single arm and the crumpled mess that had once been its face. With a snarl Shuyo unleashed a concentrated blast into the robot, disintegrating what was left of the mechanical invader. Leave no survivors, Frieza had taught him that as well and Shuyo had to admit that the Frost Demon may have had a point.

* * *

"Can't believe I forgot you guys" Tukkan grumbled as he sheathed Asuka and Lawrence. He had been halfway to the fight when he realised he had left his prized knives back on the ship. Naturally the only logical decision was to turn around and retrieve them, much to Nadan's ire. Unfortunately this meant Tukkan was well behind schedule as he raced over to the battle.

"Woah!" Tukkan exclaimed as he felt a massive surge in energy coming from up ahead. "Holy crap Shuyo's been working out!" Tukkan laughed to himself, the power he was feeling from the verdant monk was incredible, on par with Frieza and Cooler at this point.

While Tukkan was busy keeping track of Shuyo's rising energy he also picked up several smaller ones heading his way. Not taking any chances Tukkan unsheathed his knives and brought them to the ready, taking up a position directly in the path of the oncoming Ki signatures. He couldn't really take any chances with all the craziness happening on this planet. After a few tense moments the first of the Ki signatures crested the hill and Tukkan breathed a sigh of relief to see it was just the Namekian villagers retreating from the battlefield.

Lowering his guard Tukkan waved over the approaching Namekians, there looked to be about two dozen of them in total. Many looked to be injured and were being supported by the other, more able bodied members of their group. As the group came to a halt in front of him an elderly Namekian stepped forward to address the Konatsian chef.

"Are you with Frieza?" The Namekian grunted. Tukkan could just pick up the distaste in the Namekian's voice at using the Frost Demon's name.

"Yeah I am, hey look I got to get to that fight so I don't have much time to waste, if you need a safe place to hide out head to our ship" Tukkan stated hurriedly. Out of the corner of his eye he could see an injured Raijin being carried by a young Namekian child. "Our ship's cloaked but Nadan should let you in just keep heading that way you should sense him pretty easily" Tukkan said pointing his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the proper direction. The elder simply nodded before passing by Tukkan while the Konatsian chef took off back towards the fighting. Shuyo's power was nothing short of jaw dropping, had he been holding it back this whole time?

As Tukkan crested the hill that the Namekians had come over he came to a staggered stop as he was blinded by an intense orange light in the distance. It felt like the entire planet was shaking and even from this distance he could feel the scorching heat of the blast that withered the plant life around him. Once the light had faded and Tukkan could see where he was going he rushed towards the village.

Coming over the ridge where Frieza and the rest had first arrived, Tukkan's eyes widened in shock at what he saw. The once pristine blue fields of the Namekian landscape had been reduced to a charred grey mass of molten rock and standing at the focal point of the destruction was Shuyo with orange flames swirling around him.

Looking around a lump started to form in Tukkan's throat, Shuyo's little scorched earth maneuver had left nothing behind. At first glance there were no Cyclopian Guards left, all of them being completely obliterated by the blast. Looking back to Shuyo, Tukkan noticed a lone Guard at the monk's feet. It must have still been functioning as it was attempting to grab Shuyo by the ankle. That was when Tukkan felt a quick surge in Shuyo's energy and before Tukkan could stop him the verdant monk vaporized the struggling robot at his feet.

"Damn it Big Green!" Tukkan yelled out hopping down from the hillside just as Tyr and Weiss landed. Ignoring the confused look on the verdant monk's face Tukkan walked up to his friends in an annoyed huff.

"What's wrong Tuk?" Tyr asked sitting down in a patch of scorched grass with a sigh.

"Nadan needs one of these robots intact, says he needs one to help him get into The Big Gete Star's network" Tukkan stated kicking a crumpled arm from one of the guards to the side.

"That looks like it could be a somewhat… problematic task" Weiss said looking around the ruined battlefield. As far as the eyes could see were the shattered and melted remains of the Cyclopian Guards, intact was not a word that could be used to describe any of them at this point. "Is it really that important?" Weiss asked picking up a partially melted piece of metal before throwing it away.

"Look if Nad says it's important then it is" Tukkan said impatiently. "Now are you guys going to help me look or what?" Tukkan pressed before taking off to scour the battlefield.

With a drawn out sigh Shuyo turned to the two tired children beside him who were looking up to him expectantly. "We'll help him find what he needs after that you go back to the ship" Shuyo commanded as he took off with Weiss and Tyr in tow behind him.

"Excuse me, the ship? What about Frieza, Aayla and Cooler?" Weiss asked with a scowl.

"I'll be going to help them, I'm afraid King Cold's power has grown well past the point where you could help" Shuyo stated touching down near a pile of smashed Cyclopian Guards. He didn't enjoy cutting down the kids like that but sometimes the truth just had to be said. "It would be best if you stay with the ship from this point on, otherwise you may distract the others, especially Frieza and Aayla" Shuyo continued as he quickly sifted through smashed robots. The bond the trio of Weiss, Frieza and Aayla had formed was quite miraculous to behold but it would also serve as a potential weakness, one that King Cold would no doubt exploit given the chance.

"I think he's right Weiss, plus I don't know about you but I'm beat" Tyr sighed as he dug through some rocks. There was a single mechanical arm sticking out of it perhaps if he was lucky there would be something attached on the other end. "I mean if Frieza, Cooler, Shuyo and Aayla can't take down Cold what could we rea-" Tyr was cut off as the arm he was digging for suddenly sprang to life, latching its mechanical claws around Tyr's neck. Tyr struggled against the vice like grip around his neck, he couldn't breathe and he could feel the scales around his neck beginning to crack under the pressure.

"Let him go!" Weiss yelled as she leapt at the still partially submerged Cyclopian Guard. The young Demoness flared her Ki forming a blade around her right hand. Salza had taught her this technique before his death she just never had an opportune moment to use it, until now. Weiss' emerald blade sliced off the Guard's arm as it fully rose from the rubble. Before it could make a proper counter attack Weiss darted underneath slicing away the section that joined the robot's torso with its waist.

"Are you ok?" Weiss asked extinguishing her Ki blade as she crouched down beside Tyr who was coughing and trying to get his breath back.

"If I never see another robot for the rest of my life I think I can die happy" Tyr grumbled rubbing his sore throat gently.

Tukkan touched down beside the kids and the Guard that was still trying to move its last functioning limb into an attack position. "Hey you found one great!" The Konatsian chef exclaimed as he withdrew one of his knives. Crouching down Tukkan drove the knife into the robot's equivalent of an armpit and began severing the bulky appendage. With a quick flick of his wrist the arm came loose flying off to the side, the screech of metal on metal causing both kids to grimace in discomfort.

Shuyo was next to touch down beside the group and surveyed what they had found. He took quick note of Tyr's condition, the boy was done, he fought well but he simply had nothing left to give. Turning to Tukkan as the chef carefully removed the Cyclopian Guard's eye with his knife Shuyo decided to wait until he was done before addressing him. "So is this what you needed then?" Shuyo asked as Tukkan sheathed his knife.

"Well it's what Nad needs so yep" Tukkan chuckled cheerily. Hoisting the damaged robot up Tukkan turned to the others with a wide smile. "Thanks for the help guys, so are you two coming with me?" Tukkan asked looking down at both Weiss and Tyr. Weiss looked up to Shuyo who simply nodded his head towards the chef. With a slightly dejected sigh Weiss turned to face Tukkan and nodded before helping Tyr to his feet.

"Alright so then we'll head out, Shuyo I guess you're heading out to help…" Tukkan trailed off the sky was illuminated by a shining orb of orange energy. It may have been miles away but there was no mistaking what the sphere of energy was.

"That's a Supernova!" Weiss exclaimed in shock just as a massive gust of wind slammed into them no doubt emanating from the colossal attack.

Turning around to face the others Shuyo quickly barked out his orders. "Tukkan take the kids to the ship and get off world now!" Shuyo yelled, he usually tried to keep his cool but this situation was quickly getting out of control. If they were willing to start throwing around planet busting attacks then the others needed to get to safety immediately.

Without saying another word Tukkan, Tyr and Weiss took off towards the ship in a bust of speed while Shuyo headed in the opposite direction, towards the planet killing attack. The thing that really had Shuyo worried was that out of the four combatants three of them were capable of that attack and the thought of it being Frieza or Cooler using it didn't alleviate the verdant monk's swelling concern.

"How can this get any worse?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hello everyone it's been a while and I got to once again apologize (I know I sound like a broken record but I just have to) for the lateness of this chapter. This chapter might also seem a little on the shorter side and that was intentional. I really didn't want to stretch the battle with the Guards out too long and I didn't want to bleed into Frieza's fight so for the sake of structure I kept this chapter on the shorter side of things.**

 **One thing I felt like doing was expanding on some of our "heroes" move sets specifically Weiss and Shuyo.**

 **So people have asked how Frieza and Co are going to get out of this whole mess with Meta-Cold. I won't give any spoilers but I will say that it won't be the half-assed ending we got in Return of Cooler. It still bugs me to this day, makes no sense at all.**

 **Anyways another part I wanted to touch on was giving Shuyo a little more spotlight time he's been kind of background characterish as of late so wanted to give him some time to shine and I think this chapter was a good spot for that. Another small thing wanted to do was point out the two main Namekians Frieza and the others will be dealing with after. Moori and Dende are incredibly important in this case as Moori is the current leader of the Namekians and Dende as we all know will eventually head to Earth. Having them here now is just a good way to set up what comes next.**

 **That's it for now guys hope you're enjoying the story, as always if you want to talk or bounce some questions off me feel free to ask.**

 **Until next time guys!**


	27. Chapter 27 - One Down

"Well now, I wasn't expecting this fight to be so lackluster" Meta-Cold chuckled as he approached his sons and Aayla. The metallic crunch of his feet on the parched Namekian soil echoed across the deserted landscape signalling his methodical approach. "Of course, I never really expected you boys to ever beat me, it's always nice to know I was right" Meta-Cold grinned, coming to a halt to survey his opponents.

Flaring his aura Frieza charged forward in an angered rush. Meta-Cold, unfazed by the brazen attack disappeared in a burst of super speed before reappearing just above Frieza, driving his metal knee into the young prince's back to knock him from the air. Frieza slammed into the hardened ground digging up a trench as Cooler and Aayla moved in to back up the downed Frost Demon. Aayla was met with a quick backhand knocking her away while Cooler was forced to defend against a Full Power Death Beam at point blank range.

The force of the attack managed to blast Cooler backwards into Frieza leaving his arms singed from the point of contact. Turning to face the tangled mess of limbs that was his sons, Meta-Cold smirked as he approached. In the back of his mind he could hear the call of The Big Gete Star demanding that he end this and capture them. While Cold was bound to comply there was a small part of him that was enjoying this, a part of his past life resurfacing along with the memories of dealing with his two rebellious sons.

As the pair of Frost Princes untangled themselves, Frieza once more flared his energy in frustration. "How?!" Frieza growled getting back to his unsteady feet. When his cybernetic father cocked a questioning brow in his direction Frieza felt his rage surge inside of him. "How the hell can he be so much stronger? We've been training for years damn it!" Frieza hissed angrily as his power swelled.

"Forget it Frieza, there's no point talking to him, he's more machine than man" Cooler grunted cracking his neck from right to left. Cooler was putting up a tough front but this whole battle had him worried, it was three on one and their father was handily beating them. On top of that their attacks seemed to be doing steadily less damage as the battle progressed. It wasn't that they were tiring, both he and Frieza had worked extensively on their stamina so both of them were more than ready for a drawn out fight.

With his cybernetic father standing just a few feet away Cooler began inspecting his chassis closer. At first glance it appeared like nothing was out of the ordinary but the more Cooler inspected the pristine metal the more things didn't seem right. It wasn't that they were getting weaker, no it was that he was getting tougher!

"Tell me father, there's more to this regeneration you've obtained than merely putting yourself back together isn't there?" Cooler inquired taking up a position beside his brother as he helped Aayla to her feet. Cooler needed answers as well as time to prepare, hopefully their father's love of his own voice would give them the time they needed to form a counter attack.

"Funny you should mention that, you are correct my son, The Big Gete Star is constantly monitoring my body. Every time it is damaged the Star's systems will correct the issue and reinforce my body to ensure it doesn't happen a second time" Meta-Cold chuckled, his synthesized voice grating on the ears of those around him.

"Then I guess we'll just have to make sure there's nothing left to be put back together!" Frieza exclaimed charging forward with Aayla at his side. Frieza reached Meta-Cold first attacking with a straight left punch. The cybernetic tyrant chuckled drily dodging the jab only to be caught off guard by the azure beauty at his son's side. Aayla ducked low under Frieza's right arm before lunging forward and snaking her arms around Meta-Cold's exposed appendage.

Caught off guard by the attack Meta-Cold was unprepared for Frieza to grab hold of his cybernetic father's other arm. Without saying a word to each other both Securan and Frost Demon pulled with all their strength. Frieza grinned as he heard the sound of rending metal before calling out to his brother. "Cooler get off your ass!" Frieza hollered but Cooler had already made his move. Charging forward, the elder Frost Prince focused his Ki around his arms forming a protective barrier around each limb.

Meta-Cold's artificial eyes widened in shock as Cooler unleashed a furious barrage against his trapped father. Cooler's punches were a blur, and while Meta-Cold attempted to fight back he was completely unsuccessful as his kicks did little to slow his attacking son and his tail was busy dealing with Frieza's own that intercepted him at every turn. Slowly the combination of Cooler's thunderous punches and Frieza and Aayla's impromptu game of tug-of-war began to take its toll leaving a series of monstrous dents along the shining metal body. Without warning Meta-Cold's body suddenly gave way, being shredded apart by the combined attack.

Cooler's momentum carried him further than intended leaving Frieza and Aayla behind with both sections of Meta-Cold that were already trying to put themselves back together. With a quick nod to one another both Frost Demon and Securan took to the air leaving the two pieces behind on the parched earth. Channeling their combined energy both Frieza and Aayla thrust their hands downward unleashing their attacks to the momentarily helpless tyrant.

"Death Cannon!" Frieza roared unleashing a brilliant beam of purple energy downwards.

"Theta Crush!" Aayla yelled at the same time firing her own deadly stream of crimson Ki.

Both beams met their grounded targets and detonated with an incredible surge of brilliant energy that shook the planet to its core and kicked up a dust cloud that could be seen for miles. The blast was so tremendous that Frieza was actually worried they might have overdone it.

"Yeah take that you shiny son of a bitch!" Aayla spat vehemently. She was doing the worst out of the trio. Whether it was because she was overexerting herself due to her hatred towards their father or it was simply the power differential between them was impossible to tell. All Frieza knew was that he would have to stick around her to ensure she didn't do anything too rash.

"I don't believe it's over quite yet my dear" Frieza sighed as the dust and debris from their combined attack began to dissipate. True to his words standing, completely unscathed, at the center of the scorched crated was the metal monstrosity himself, his body having completely reformed this time though his chest was visibly thicker than before. It looked like what he said was true The Big Gete Star really did adapt to any trauma his body underwent.

"Why won't you just die?!" Aayla howled in fury, her aura surged outward in a violent torrent before rushing down to meet the smirking tyrant. "Zeta Slash!" Aayla yelled slashing her hands violently in front of her. The storm of crimson Ki blades acted as cover for her attack giving her an opening to engage Meta-Cold. She was running on pure instinct now and Frieza cursed himself that he had brought her into this fight she wasn't thinking clearly.

Aayla's Zeta Slash made contact first, digging huge gouges out of the scorched ground and actually cutting into parts of Meta-Cold's body that had not been fully fortified as of yet. Aayla reached Cold in a blind fury attacking relentlessly, however each blow was met and countered by one of Meta-Cold's own. Running on pure adrenaline Aayla pushed Cold back with a flurry of strikes, while doing minimal damage the frenzied attack still put Meta-Cold on the defensive giving both Cooler and Frieza time to catch up.

Frieza was the next to engage opening with a snap kick that transitioned into a quick tail strike. The kick itself smacked against the cybernetic tyrant's shoulder leaving a small dent while Frieza's tail just missed its mark. Meta-Cold was quick with his counter attack, shoving Aayla away with a push kick he lashed out with a left hook that caught his youngest son just above the brow knocking him to the ground and opening a shallow cut just above his eye.

Meta-Cold would have continued his counter assault if not for Cooler's timely intervention. Attacking from behind Cooler surrounded his hand in a blade of purple Ki before hacking off Cold's right arm. Cooler followed the successful amputation with a horizontal slash to the cybernetic Frost Demon's abdomen. Cooler's bladed attack appeared to be successful as it carved its way through an inch of his father's torso but it suddenly came to a halt a third of the way through the tyrant's body.

"Nice try son" Meta-Cold chuckled grabbing Cooler's bladed arm with his mechanical tail. With a twisted grin Meta-Cold squeezed down on Cooler's wrist snuffing out his Ki blade before connecting with a brutal headbutt that dropped Cooler and left a sizeable dent in Meta-Cold's own head, one that was repaired almost instantly.

Down on one knee Frieza's vision swam as he tried to regain his focus, that punch had been incredibly powerful. Wiping the stream of purple blood from his brow Frieza looked up to see his father standing over Cooler with a sphere of energy charged in his left hand while his right arm repaired itself. "Bastard" Frieza hissed raising a finger towards his father's shining form. "I don't care if you are our father, you will die!" Frieza roared unleashing his Death Beam Barrage.

Meta-Cold lurched forward as the first set of beams connected throwing off his finishing blow that he had prepared for Cooler. With a hiss of anger and frustration the cybernetic tyrant turned around just in time for the next stream of purple piercing beams to impact against him. These beams were even more effective than the first and penetrated Meta-Cold's hardened chassis leaving smouldering holes wherever they passed through. Despite the normally fatal damage that had been inflicted to him Meta-Cold was still able to thrust his hand forward charging an energy blast. His attempt was immediately thwarted though as he was driven into the ground by a salvo of crimson Ki blasts from above.

Aayla, not wanting to be outdone, had taken to the air and the moment she spotted an exploitable opening unleashed her Giga Cannon Barrage. Aayla could feel the stress of the battle beginning to take its toll on her as she pushed herself harder and harder trying to obliterate their cybernetic foe. Her body was desperately trying to keep up with her energy output and her muscles and bones felt like they were made of rubber after Meta-Cold's brutal attacks. Despite the pain she was feeling, Aayla pushed on until she got the signal from Frieza to cease fire. Her frenzied attack had once again kicked up an enormous cloud of dust that the group couldn't see through.

Waving down Aayla to his position Frieza ceased his own attack as he waited for the smoke and debris to clear. Cooler quickly took up position beside the pair as well, though he was still somewhat dizzy from the ruthless headbutt. As they waited for the smoke to clear Frieza couldn't help but silently curse that they couldn't sense their father's energy in his new cybernetic body. The smoke finally cleared enough for the trio of Namek's most unlikely defenders to behold a charred crater with not a single sign of their father to be found.

"Think he's actually dead?" Frieza asked not letting his guard down as they inspected the crater before them.

"Doubtful" Cooler grunted taking a tentative step forward. As Cooler peaked into the still smouldering crater Meta-Cold burst out of the ground, he had been lying in wait for the most opportune moment to strike. Taken off guard Cooler had no time to defend the against the axe kick that slammed Cooler to the ground. Spinning around Meta-Cold connected with a flurry of punches driving Frieza back as Aayla rushed in to assist.

"So you think you can use the techniques I taught you against me boy!?" Meta-Cold growled before slamming in his fist into Frieza's abdomen knocking the air from his lungs. "Let me show you how it's done" Cold chuckled grabbing Frieza by the throat with his left hand and pointing his right index finger at the approaching Securan.

 _Aayla watch out!_ Frieza called out through their link as he wrestled with his father's steely grasp. With a wicked grin Meta-Cold unleashed his Tyrant Death Beam Barrage towards the charging Securan beauty. Diving to the side to avoid the attack Aayla cried out as she felt several of the deadly beams pierce her pristine flesh leaving bloody channels through her body where they had passed. Frieza's warning was the only thing that kept Aayla alive, she had managed to just barely survive the attack. Writhing on the ground in agony Aayla was trying her best to ignore the pain. She had been perforated all along her body, luckily Aayla managed to keep her vital areas out of the line of fire.

"Ah yes the dirt, a fitting location for a traitorous rat" Meta-Cold chuckled as he increased the pressure around Frieza's neck. While chocking their species was next to useless as they didn't require such petty things like oxygen, breaking their spines was a very effective way of subduing a Frost Demon. The best part was that it wouldn't kill them either just paralyse them from the neck down, Frieza would retain his tremendous power and The Big Gete Star would become stronger once he had been assimilated, everyone wins.

Gritting his teeth Frieza fired a pair of Ki blasts from his eyes hoping to cut through Meta-Cold's hand just as Aayla had before. His hopes were dashed though as the beams simply impacted against his shining metal surface with nary a scratch to be seen.

"Haven't you been paying attention my boy?" Meta-Cold chuckled once more applying another surge of pressure on his son's neck. Frieza kicked out in vain at his father, who held him at an arm's length to keep him from making a proper counter attack. "The Big Gete Star not only restores any damage dealt to me but also ensures that the same trick can't happen twice" Meta-Cold smirk widened as he raised his other hand and grasped the back of Frieza's neck.

Frieza's eye's widened in pain as he tried to resist the pressure being applied to his neck. In desperation Frieza ignited a Death Saucer in his right hand and forced it upward carving off both of Cold's hands in the process. Dropping to the ground with a thud Frieza gasped as he wrenched both his father's severed hands from his neck just as Meta-Cold stamped down on his chest. Cold's severed arms quickly reattached themselves to his main body as the cybernetic tyrant stomped on his youngest son pushing him farther and farther into the parched Namekian soil.

Gritting his teeth Frieza unleashed a Death Cannon from his grounded position straight upwards. Meta-Cold easily avoided the blast but was forced to halt his attack giving Frieza room to breathe. Before Meta-Cold could resume his attack he was pushed backwards by a roaring ball of crimson energy. Though her wounds had yet to heal, Aayla pushed back her former employer with all her remaining might. Aayla's Gamma Impact acted as a shield to protect her as she tried to force Meta-Cold away from his son despite her quickly diminishing strength.

Meta-Cold's feet dug into the dried ground, digging long trenches as his Securan adversary pushed him back, her teeth barred in a mix of rage and pain. Slowly Meta-Cold was able to cease their momentum and came to a halt with Aayla continuing to pour power into her rage fueled charge. "Touch him again and I'll rip out your spine you son of a bitch!" Aayla growled.

"Well I would certainly like to see you try Ms. Talon" Meta-Cold laughed as he began to walk forward against Aayla's Ki barrier.

"Then allow me!" A familiar voice shouted from behind the clashing pair. Meta-Cold's artificial eyes widened at the sound of rending metal that echoed across the deserted Namekian landscape. Looking down in shock, Meta-Cold's eyes fell on a purple hand protruding through his abdomen. In its grasp was the base of Meta-Cold's artificial spine which was already extending tendrils in an attempt to repair the substantial damage. With an enraged yell Cooler pulled back taking Meta-Cold's spine with it, as he did this Aayla cancelled her Gamma Impact and instead grabbed hold of the cybernetic tyrant by his shoulders. For a moment it looked like the cybernetic Frost Demon would be able to withstand the attack until a metallic screech rent the air and Cooler ripped his father's spine and head from his body.

Taking a moment to look down at his father's spine and skull Cooler felt a rush of disgust at what his father had become. "You will pay for this boy!" Meta-Cold hissed, his voice sounding even more synthesized and distorted. Cooler's rebuttal was an angered yell that echoed across the barren Namekian landscape as he hurled the artificial vertebrae into the air where Frieza was waiting with a Ki blast at the ready. Frieza's crimson eyes locked with his father's before he unleashed his Ki blast vaporizing the severed spinal column in the process.

Taking a shuddering breath Frieza dropped from the sky, he could feel his muscles aching as he landed with a harder thud than he had intended. He hadn't had a fight this difficult for quite some time and under any other circumstances he might have been able to enjoy himself. Looking around Frieza quickly found what he was looking for. Aayla was on her hands and knees gasping for air while blood was steadily dripping from her still open wounds staining the ground below her crimson.

"Take it easy" Frieza sighed as he picked Aayla up and placed her in a seated position so he could better look at the extent of her damage. Frieza's face wrinkled in anger as he inspected his father's brutal handiwork. The damage was severe but not fatal, several still smouldering entry wounds from his father's Tyrant Death Beam Barrage, several small cuts running along her body as well as several bruises partially hidden by her azure skin.

"Please tell me he's dead this time" Aayla gasped. Her ability to heal was heavily dependent on her remaining strength, with her energy drained the way it was she needed time to recuperate, time that she hadn't given herself. Too much damage and her body wouldn't be able to keep up and eventually it would overcome her.

"Shhh don't worry about it" Frieza hushed the Securan beauty, keeping Aayla propped up as he looked over the damage. "Cooler and I will check to make sure he's dead I want you to take a break" Frieza commanded as he lifted the injured Securan over to a tree. After placing Aayla down against the tree Frieza began to stand back up only to have his arm caught by the Securan beauty's Lakee.

"Just be careful… I'll be back once my body's patched up" Aayla stated, her breathing was coming out as ragged gasp. If Frieza didn't know how tough she was he would have assumed she was on death's door, luckily Aayla was of a different caliber that put her above most, these flesh wounds would not claim her life they would only make her stronger.

"You worry too much" Frieza admonished with a smirk.

"Well I wouldn't be much of a bodyguard if I couldn't watch your back" Aayla replied with a sly smirk. Pulling Frieza back down to her level with her Lakee Aayla stared Frieza right in the eye with the intensity he loved so much. "Waste his smug ass" Aayla commanded.

Grinning at the Securan's surprising hostility Frieza leant in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning back around. He could just make out the sounds of heavy impacts in the distance, clearly their father was still very much alive. Flaring his purple aura Frieza took to the air racing towards his brother's position leaving Aayla behind to stare after him. "I could watch your back all day" Aayla chuckled to herself as she leant her back against the tree feeling her body slowly stitch itself back together.

* * *

"What is taking that idiot so long?" Nadan hissed angrily as paced back and forth aboard The Nemesis. He had sent Tukkan to go retrieve a single Cyclopian Guard it shouldn't have even taken five minutes but he was now going on close to fifteen. "Doesn't that airhead realise time is of the essence?" Nadan questioned Yang who simply nodded her head in response. The golden bird had taken up Tukkan's seat monitoring the ongoing battles miles away and had yet to move during that entire time.

Nadan's pacing eventually brought him back to his work station, the scientist in him wanted to wait for Tukkan's return but the chef's extended absence had frayed the Malakan prodigy's already short nerves. As Nadan continued his internal debate Yang's head shot up without warning catching Nadan's attention. "Is he finally back?" Nadan questioned before the golden bird took off from its improvised perch.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Nadan exclaimed before chasing after Yang as fast as his short legs would allow. "Not… even… the… damn… bird… listens… to… me…" Nadan gasped as he followed Yang through the halls. Something had obtained her attention enough for her to leave her post watching over Weiss. It was no secret the bird was immensely loyal to the young Demoness. Whatever had drawn the fierce predator away must have been of the utmost importance.

Nadan finally caught up with Yang who had stopped in front of the main entrance ramp for the ship. "What's… gotten into… you?" Nadan panted angrily.

Yang didn't respond to Nadan's inquiry at all, instead she lowered her entire body down close to the floor spreading her wings out to either side. Her impressive five foot wingspan aside Nadan was most surprised by complete calm coming from the usually hyperactive bird. Tuning her head to look back at the unsure Malakan, Yang locked eyes with him before darting hers over to the control console.

"You want me to open the door for you?" Nadan asked uncertainly.

Yang's affirmative screech nearly deafened Nadan who quickly rushed over to comply. Something had gotten the bird's attention, it couldn't have been Tukkan he would have just let himself in. "Blast it why didn't I just check the monitors?" Nadan groaned as the entrance ramp slowly descended. Waiting for the ramp to fully lower, Yang couched down even further nearly pressing her chest against the floor while raising her wings into the air. She was ready to spring into action the moment she spotted anything remotely hostile.

As soon as the ramp had finished lowering Yang leapt from her crouched position darting from the ship like golden streak of lightning. Nadan had been unprepared for the sudden burst of speed and chased after her, if anything happened to that bird Weiss would be absolutely crushed. As Nadan hurried his way down the ramp he could just make out the sound of voices coming from outside, organic voices.

Not knowing what to expect Nadan reached the end of the ramp only to be greeted by an elderly Namekian with a kind smile. "Why hello there" the elder hailed as Nadan looked around uncertainly. Whoever this Namekian was he wasn't alone, scattered throughout the clearing where they had landed were several of his brethren.

"Pardon the intrusion but some of your comrades said that we would be safer aboard your ship for the time being" the elder stated dragging Nadan's focus back to him. Though he had a bit of gruff voice there was a friendly tone behind it, not unlike Tukkan's. Nadan could tell there was also a tremendous amount of wisdom behind his words, very unlike Tukkan.

Recalling that Frieza wished to negotiate with the Namekian people Nadan quickly nodded his head in confirmation. "Very well if that's the case then quickly, there's no safer place on the planet than aboard our ship right now" Nadan stated proudly.

"Many thanks, your hospitality is very much appreciated" the elder stated with a small bow, one that his companion at his side clearly didn't appreciate.

"Elder how can you just bow to this lowlife after everything Frieza's done to us?" The Namekian at the elder's side demanded angrily.

"Mollus! Watch your tongue, while I don't trust Frieza either, his men have done nothing but help us and deserve the benefit of the doubt" the Elder scolding his younger companion took Nadan completely by surprise. Landing on Namek, Nadan knew that their welcome would be anything short of warm, so Mollus' reaction was actually quite expected. This Elder's response however was something Nadan had not expected and boded well for Frieza's hopes of peaceful resolution.

"Don't worry about it sir, I understand that Lord Frieza has a… less than spectacular reputation with your people" Nadan stated hurriedly trying to defuse the argument. As of right now they were all exposed and needed to get aboard the ship, anything else would just give the forces of the Big Gete Star time to pinpoint and converge on their position.

"He certainly does… anyways my name is Elder Moori I believe you must be Nadan" Moori stated sticking out his hand for Nadan to shake.

Grasping the outstretched hand Nadan quickly gave it a shake just as a piercing screech cut through the air catching everyone's attention. "What is that blasted bird doing now?!" Nadan questioned angrily making his way to the source of the sound. It had come from the gathering of Namekians and so Nadan had to push his way through the gathered crowd to see what the commotion was about.

It seemed that the Namekians had formed and impromptu ring surrounding Yang who was once again crouched low with her wings poised for lift off. Her plumage, which stood on end, was shining brilliantly in the light of New Namek's sun. As Nadan approached the dangerous predator he noticed that between her feet was the unconscious form of Raijin. Sighing in relief Nadan approached Yang cautiously making sure she saw him clearly, she was just protecting Raijin, something he had not expected of the bird.

"Easy does it Yang they're not here to hurt us" Nadan said trying to ease Yang, as she whipped her head back and forth keeping an eye on all those surrounding them. Nadan's words seemed to do the trick as her feathers slowly lowered back to their usual position. "That's it now go and take Raijin into the ship for me." At the Malakan's request Yang used her feet to grab hold of Raijin and took to the air racing back into the still open ship with the young Zamt tucked close to her chest.

"I have no idea how she understands us" Nadan chuckled as Moori and a Namekian youth approached him from behind. Turning around Nadan looked at the bashful young Namekian child at Moori's side with a questioning look.

"This is Dende he was taking care of your friend before that bird showed up" Moori stated placing a hand on Dende's shoulder. Like many of the other Namekian's Dende looked incredibly tense, no doubt being so close to Frieza's ship had him, as well as everyone else, on edge.

"Well now you have my thanks for looking over my protégée, I hope Yang didn't harm you. She means well but I guess she's getting a little overprotective over everyone" Nadan chuckled. Once again he was trying to smooth over everyone's tense nerves, it was not something he was very adept at, Frieza was the diplomat he was just the science officer after all.

"N-no I'm f-fine she just knocked him out of my h-hands is all" Dende may have been stuttering but Nadan could already detect a positive improvement in his demeanour. A little praise seemed to go a long way with the boy.

"Well that's a relief" Nadan sighed before turning his attention back to Elder Moori. "I don't want to rush everyone but we need to board the ship now, I don't want us in the open for too long" Nadan stated hoping the Namekians around him would understand the danger they were all in. Unfortunately as Nadan looked around at the surrounding Namekians all he saw were scowls and distrusting looks.

"I'm not getting on that ship"

"Are you kidding me? Join with Frieza I don't think so"

"Count me out I'd rather just stay on the move"

"Why are we even here?"

"Why are we letting this runt tell us what to do?"

As the murmurs spread through the group Nadan could feel his annoyance building by the second. _Must keep calm, must keep a level head. Damn it I'm a scientist not a diplomat why do I have to be the one to get them to listen?_ Nadan was doing his best to keep his calm in front of everyone but their constant derisive muttering was quickly testing the Malakan's patience.

"I'll go" a small voice spoke out amongst the din of the squabbling Namekians. All eyes turned to the source of the voice, though it had barely been above a whisper the Namekian's pinpoint hearing heard it loud and clear.

"Dende you can't be serious?" Mollus questioned from beside Elder Moori, his face twisted in shock. The words of the older Namekian caused a deep blush to break out on the young boys face as all eyes focused on him. Dende had grown quite a bit since Frieza's first arrival but that didn't change the fact he was still somewhat of a bashful child.

Seeing Dende's clear discomfort Moori made his way over to one of his youngest brothers before placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was a small act but it seemed to do the trick and Dende had once again found the confidence to speak up, the same kind he had found when he stood beside Gohan and Krillin when they fought Frieza.

"I know Frieza has done terrible things to us in the past…" Dende paused as he was reminded of a brilliant purple beam streaking straight towards him. Shaking off the memories of his own death Dende pushed on hoping to convince his brothers. "… But his men have done nothing but help us this time. Some of them have even gotten hurt defending us!" Dende called out his confidence growing as he continued. "I know how terrible he can be but we need to trust him now… because he's all we have left" Dende concluded hoping his words had spurred his brothers' minds.

Just as Dende concluded a brilliant flash of orange light erupted in the distance before a tremendous pressure wave shook the ground around them. Despite being miles away they could still hear roar of Shuyo's Blaze Cannon. Taking his chance Nadan spoke up getting everyone's attention once more "look you have two choices either get on the ship where it's safe and you don't have to worry about killer robots and my companions or you can stay out here and take your chances." Nadan realised it may have been a tad heavy-handed but if he learned anything from Frieza it was that some people just needed a proactive push in the right direction, that or the threat of violence.

In any case the Malakan's words seemed to set the Namekians' minds, even the temperamental Mollus begrudgingly accepted and began making their way to the entrance ramp with Nadan, Dende and Moori following at the rear. "You have quite a way with words, are you Frieza's political advisor or something?" Dende asked Nadan, partially returning to his more bashful state.

"Not at all, I'm the science officer, I've been told I'm not that adept at public speaking" Nadan chuckled. The trio were the last to board and as the ramp closed Nadan could just make out the sounds of the stealth drives firing back to life, they were once again hidden and safe. Nadan could only hope that no one spotted them during that time.

Turning back to Elder Moori, Nadan addressed the older Namekian with a look of concern. "I understand that your people are able to heal themselves but are there any among you that require immediate medical attention?" Nadan asked as they came to a branch in the corridors of the ship, Nadan could see several Namekians walking around cautiously. Many of them were probably still expecting an ambush of some form.

"A few yes, why?" Moori asked as he looked around at his brethren.

"Just inform them that if any of them need help I'll be in the medical bay, hopefully Yang brought Raijin there already" Nadan stated. "It's just down this corridor the fourth door on the left" Nadan pointed as he began to walk down the hall before coming to a halt and looking back at the Elder. "Other than that just tell your people to make themselves at home and maybe keep their power levels down" Nadan said before continuing his path down the hall.

Taking Nadan up on his offer Moori instructed many of his injured brothers to go to the med bay, while many of them were apprehensive most felt confident that they could take on a single Malakan if he were to turn on them. So Nadan worked tirelessly doing his best to treat the injured which there were far more of than expected. As it turns out Namekian regeneration wasn't quite what the Malakan prodigy had expected. It was phenomenal at replacing lost limbs and repairing other catastrophic damage but when it came to injuries such as bruising, broken bones, internal bleeding even cuts it was only slightly more efficient than the average being's body.

Dende proved to be a godsend as only a few minutes after starting to treat the other Namekians he came into the med bay offering to help anyway he could. Dende's healing ability was nothing short of astounding, the only downside to it was that it took a heavy toll on the boy's stamina if he used it too much, meaning that he needed time to rest and recuperate his lost strength. In any other situation Nadan would have asked to study and observe how it was done but he had more important things to worry about.

Both Bacta Tanks were occupied, one containing the still unconscious Raijin while the other held an older Namekian named Horn. According to Dende Horn had tried early on to fight the Cyclopian Guards prior to Frieza's arrival… he was less than successful. With Horn in near critical condition and Raijin still in need of healing that left Nadan to treat those around him while also giving Dende a crash course in first aid. While Nadan had no doubt he could handle all the patients on his own he felt like having an extra set of hands, ones that the Namekians trusted, would help him immensely.

After only ten minutes Nadan and Dende had finished patching up the last Namekian sending him on his way just as Moori entered the med lab a worried look on his face. "I don't mean to disturb you but that bird, Yang was it?" Moori asked which Nadan gave a quick nod as he sat down on the med bays couch. "Yes well she keeps pacing down the halls it's putting everyone a little on edge, more so than they already are I mean" Moori chuckled as Nadan sighed in exasperation.

"I apologize, her species is predatory by nature, we've essentially brought twenty-eight intruders into her nest, it's only natural for her to want to keep an eye on her home" Nadan said before getting up from his seat and offering it to Dende with a wave of his hand. "I'll go try and convince her to ease off of everyone" Nadan stated as he hit the switch to open the doors to the med lab. "Personally I'm surprised I haven't been forced to lock her in-AHHHHHH!" Nadan shrieked in terror at what was on the other side of the door.

Nadan was face to face with the menacing form of Cyclopian Guard, its single crimson eye reflecting the horrified look on the Malakan's face. _How did it get aboard? How did it sneak by everyone? Why is it here… why is it laughing?_ Nadan's eyes narrowed as he heard the amused laughter coming from the other side of the Cyclopian Guard that Nadan only now noticed was missing both its arms and legs. "You idiot! You damn near scared me half to death!" Nadan shouted at the Konatsian chef on the other side of the robotic behemoth.

"Sorry Nad but I just couldn't help myself, just wish I could have seen your face" Tukkan cackled rattling the damaged robot as laughter raked his body.

"Har har very funny, why do you even have that?" Nadan questioned forgetting the whole reason he had originally sent Tukkan out due to all the recent commotion.

"Uhhh buddy you said you wanted to take apart this thing's brain to get at what's inside right?" Tukkan asked worriedly. For a second he thought he had misinterpreted Nadan's science talk once again.

"Right! I knew that I was just seeing if you had been paying attention" Nadan stated trying to cover up his mistake. He had been so focused on helping the Namekians, dealing with Yang and teaching Dende that he had completely forgotten about the mission he had sent Tukkan on. To Nadan's credit it did take Tukkan forever to get back.

"Right… so what do you want me to do with this thing?" Tukkan asked giving the Guard a quick shake.

"Take it to the bridge I'll be there in a second" Nadan stated before hurrying back to the Bacta Tanks. After checking over both Raijin and Horn to make sure they were both stable Nadan turned to both Dende and Moori who had been watched the entire bizarre reunion. "I'm needed back on the bridge if you want you may join me. You don't have to worry about these two they should be fine as long as they can rest peacefully" Nadan explained to the two Namekians who had been invaluable at his side.

The pair quickly glanced at each other before nodding. Moori was the first to answer as it still seemed like Dende was feeling the exhaustion of aiding Nadan. "We would be glad to, lead the way" Moori said with his usual kind smile. The trio rushed through the halls with Nadan taking the lead, they passed several other Namekians who stared at them questioningly but were waved aside by Moori.

Once they had entered the bridge Nadan rushed over to Tukkan who had laid out the disabled Cyclopian Guard for him to inspect. Nadan smiled when he saw that not only had not only had Tukkan brought the robot but he had also acquired his set of tools from his lab. _That thoughtful idiot thought of everything_ Nadan thought to himself.

"Well it's all yours buddy, have fun!" Tukkan exclaimed jovially as he looped an arm around Moori's shoulder steering him towards the bridge's entrance. "So I'm the crew's chef what can I make you guys?" Tukkan asked as they he hit the button to open the door.

"Erm our people only require water…" Moori stated taking an uncertain glance back towards Dende and Nadan who looked back with bemused smiles.

"Really? Well that's kind of disappointing…" Tukkan sighed dejectedly leading Moori through the now open entrance. "… Guess I'll just have to prepare the best damn water you guys have ever had!" Tukkan exclaimed leaving behind Nadan and Dende as the door sealed shut behind them.

"Idiot" Nadan sighed shaking his head as he cut through the chassis of the damaged Cyclopian Guard with a plasma torch. Looking to his left he could see Dende standing close by uncertainly looking around at everything around him. "If you want you can make yourself comfortable, I designed just about everything on this ship myself the seats are quite ergonomic" Nadan stated once again trying to alleviate the young Namekian's clear uncertainty.

"Oh… thank you" Dende responded with a curt bow before hopping into the seat Tukkan had previously been seated at before his departure.

As Nadan worked in silence going through every inch of circuitry and wiring that made up the bulky robot Dende found his gaze wandering around the bridge once more until it finally came to rest on the monitors in front of him. What he saw on those monitors brought with it a horrified lump of fear, it was Frieza.

Dende hated to admit it but he was still terrified of the Frost Demon, who in their right mind wouldn't be? He had been there when Krillin, Gohan, Piccolo and Vegeta fought Frieza, desperately trying everything they could to put down the tyrant only to have him resurge stronger than before. He had been the last Namekian that Frieza had killed before Gohan's friends wished everyone back to life. He was the being that still haunted Dende's dreams the monster that lurked in the darkness and yet here he was clear as day on these monitors in a desperate fight of his own to defeat his own father.

Dende sat there losing all track of time watching Frieza, Cooler and Aayla fight the cybernetic Frost Demon tooth and nail. It seemed no matter how hard they hit Meta-Cold he simply came back stronger than before. As time went on Dende became more and more engrossed in the battle. At first he was only giving his silent prayers to Cooler and Aayla, it was easy as they hadn't done anything to his people. But the longer the fight dragged on the more Dende began to root for Frieza as well, his heart would leap when the Frost Prince would land a strike and he would cringe whenever Frieza would be struck by his cybernetic father.

It wasn't until Frieza hoisted an injured Aayla into his arms before flying her to safety that Dende's opinion of Frieza began to truly shift. Nadan's surveillance probe zoomed in on the pair just in time to see Frieza set the injured Securan against a tree, his face a mask of worry as he inspected the damage done to azure beauty. Dende watched the pair, enraptured at what he saw, this wasn't the tyrannical monster that laid waste to his home and wiped out his family. This was a man that was fighting to save a world that couldn't do so itself, a man that went against his own father in favour of those he once attempted to destroy. As Frieza placed a small kiss on Aayla's cheek Dende swallowed as the realisation began to sink in, this was a man who cared for those close to him, this was a man who had been given a second chance and made the most of it.

"AHAAA!" Nadan exclaimed triumphantly holding up a small cylinder in his hand. The Malakan scientist's shout snapped Dende away from the monitors drawing him from his seat with a curious look on his young face.

"Did you get what you needed?" Dende asked walking over to Nadan, carefully avoiding scraps of metal and wires littered across the floor as he did so.

"With this I can hopefully disguise myself as one of these tin cans" Nadan explained giving the dissected Cyclopian Guard a swift kick. Rushing over to his work station Nadan quickly pulled out a pair of cables and hooked up the mysterious cylindrical device up to his terminal. Several tense seconds passed as Nadan's fingers raced across the keys. The information streaming across the screen was going by faster than Dende could keep track of and so the young Namekian instead turned his attention to the ecstatic Malakan who was fit to burst from excitement.

 _Access Granted_

"YES! YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT'S GRANTED!" Nadan shouted at the top of his lungs surprising Dende with the sudden outburst. Composing himself the best he could despite his elated mood Nadan went back to pouring over the data that was now streaming across his monitor. "Alright first thing's first let's look at troop displacement and numbers. Let's see how many of those tin cans Cold has at his disposal" Nadan proclaimed eagerly.

Nadan sat in silence as more information poured in until he found what he had been looking for. "Alright almost all Cyclopian Guards have been completely destroyed at this point, the only ones left are the ones guarding the main structure, that's fantastic" Nadan grinned. The next chunks of information however quickly caused that grin to vanish. "It can't be" Nadan whispered his eyes darting over the data being funneled into his system.

"What's wrong?" Dende questioned uncertainly.

Leaping from his chair Nadan rushed across the room to where his surveillance drones were still monitoring the action. As he flicked through the screens a lump of dread began to form in the pit of the Malakan prodigy's stomach. Frieza and Cooler were powerful beyond measure no single being in this universe could stand up to them, especially while they were together. But this… this was something that even they couldn't defeat on their own.

Snapping his head up Nadan rushed back over to his workstation and began hammering at his keys at an even more frenzied pace. Taken aback by the sudden change of mood Dende looked at the Malakan scientist uncertainly. "Nadan what are you doing?" Dende inquired as Nadan leapt from his seat running across the bridge to yank off a panel along the wall. Despite the question directed at him Nadan ignored it for the moment, pulling out several cables from the now exposed wall before rushing back to his seat with them in hand.

"Nadan?" Dende asked once more trying to get the agitated scientist's attention.

"I'm sorry Dende, I'm just trying to save all our lives" Nadan replied hooking up his personal computer to the ship's entire mainframe. If he was going to pull this off he was going to need all the computing power he could get.

* * *

Frieza reeled back in pain as Meta-Cold's steel fist smashed into his face. A stream of purple blood erupted from the Frost Demon's nostrils as he felt the cartilage in the nose crumble under the raw power of his father. Flipping end over end Frieza still managed to land feet first digging up deep trenches into the battle torn dirt as he came to a stop.

Wiping away the stream of blood Frieza looked up just in time to see his brother attempt a tail strike only to have his appendage caught by their cybernetic father. With a powerful pull Meta-Cold jerked Cooler towards him before unleashing a crisp combination across his chest that knocked the older Frost Demon from the air as well.

Racing forward Frieza managed to catch his dazed brother before he crashed into the swirling green torrents of the Namekian ocean. Their fight had transitioned from the mainland and they were now doing battle above a series of islands, the whole experience was quite nostalgic. If it wasn't for the homicidal robot with his father's face Frieza might have fancied a calm stroll to reminisce.

A pained groan coming from Frieza's arms caught the younger Frost Prince's attention. Looking down he could see his brother holding onto his bruised chest with a pained grimace. Bruises never really showed up well on Cooler's body his purple skin had a tendency to disguise such injuries. This time though the bruises were black as coal and very visible.

"Bastard" Cooler grunted as Frieza propped his brother back to his feet. "I think he broke a rib or two" Cooler sneered at the damage done to him.

Without warning, Meta-Cold appeared between the two brothers, catching both Frost Demons off guard with his sudden appearance. With a quick uppercut, Meta-Cold sent Frieza into the air before spinning around to train the palm of his hand on Cooler. "My dear son I assure you I intend to break a lot more than that" the cybernetic tyrant chuckled before blasting Cooler with his Tyrant Death Flash. Cooler being unprepared for his father's sudden appearance had no time to react as the brilliant beam of blue energy blasted him downwards into roaring ocean.

Smirking downwards at the roaring ocean beneath him Meta-Cold lurched forward as an intense purple beam pierced through his right shoulder. Turning around Meta-Cold was caught off guard by a dropkick from his youngest son. Frieza followed the surprise attack by outracing his plummeting father and delivering a brutal knee to the tyrant's spine that would have left any normal adversary a cripple. Performing a front flip Frieza then drove his heel into Meta-Cold's sternum driving the surprised former monarch into the ground.

Not finished with his combination Frieza pointed his right hand downward extending his index and middle finger towards his father's crash site. A blinding golden light built up until it was a solid sphere of energy at the tip of both fingers. With an angered yell Frieza unleashed the Full Power Death Beam to the island below.

The tiny island disappeared in a blinding flash of golden light forcing the water around the island to splay outwards in all directions from the epicenter of the blast. With the smoke and debris swirling around chaotically Frieza couldn't tell where his father was but he was positive that the damned cyborg was still down there. "If it was that easy to kill you father this fight would have been over a long time ago, stop wasting my time and show yourself already!" Frieza shouted preparing the next step of his plan to eradicate this mechanical doppelganger.

The smoke and debris from the explosion slowly cleared away revealing the torrential surface of the sloshing ocean. Frieza's angered expression became a derisive sneer as Meta-Cold broke through the surface of the violent ocean his metallic chassis shining like an obnoxious beacon in the Namekian sunlight.

 _Look at him, taking his damn time like he hasn't a care in the universe, well I'll make him care damn it!_ Frieza's thoughts were a mess of rage and loathing towards his father. He had waited for this moment for so long but of course his damn father had to once again take this opportunity from him. This fight should have been over an hour ago but nope his father had to let himself be enslaved by some glorified computer chip and ruin the moment.

 _Just a little closer you bastard let's see you put yourself back together after this!_ Frieza's eyes narrowed as his father approached his position lazily. The overconfident smirk on the cybernetic Frost Demon's face was almost enough to make Frieza lose his concentration. Luckily the comforting presence of a lovely Securan helped keep his turbulent thoughts in check, he needed to all the mental energy he could gather.

"Not bad Frieza I'm legitimately impressed, but please don't tell me that was meant to actually kill me?" Meta-Cold chuckled at throbbing vein in Frieza's head, visible even from where the tyrant floated smugly.

 _You got this hun, let him have it!_ Aayla's encouragement was much appreciated and brought a wry smile to Frieza's bruised and bloodied face.

"No father but this is!" Frieza yelled thrusting his hands forward causing Meta-Cold to freeze in place. The look of shock and confusion on the cybernetic Frost Demon's face was enough to cause Frieza to cackle merrily. While it was fairly well known that the vein on Frieza's forehead had a tendency to bulge whenever he experienced extreme frustration or anger it also bulged whenever he was exerting immense amounts of psionic energy.

Frieza could move entire mountains with a simple flick of his finger, but the energy he needed to deal with his father was on a whole different level. Even now Frieza could feel his grip on his father's cybernetic body begin to slip as he pushed his way through the telekinetic hold. Sweat began to pour from Frieza's brow, mixing with the blood already running down his face, as the Frost Prince spread his hold to every inch of his father's body. Using this much energy on an organic would be far too much for their body to survive and would explode from the pressure being exerted, just ask Goku's bald friend how that felt.

Once Frieza was finally satisfied with his hold over his struggling father he began to force every inch of Meta-Cold's body apart with a strained yell. The pain of exerting such a large amount of psionic energy was taking its toll on Frieza, it felt like his head was going to split in two from the pressure but he held on. He could feel his father literally coming apart at the seams. Despite the incredible strain Frieza was able to tolerate it thanks in large part to his partner, she may have been miles away but her mental presence eased the strain raking through Frieza's brain.

"This time, don't you dare come back!" Frieza hissed over the sound of rending metal and angered yelling from his father.

"Damn it boy don't you daAAAAAAHHH!" Meta-Cold howled as every inch of his pristine metal body shattered into thousands of tiny shards.

Holding the swarming metallic pieces before him Frieza called out angrily to his brother. "Cooler get your ass over here now!" Despite literally tearing his father to miniscule pieces, those pieces were still very much alive and desperately trying to reform only held in check by Frieza's continued concentration on his hold.

Bursting from the frothing ocean with a sphere of orange Ki in his hand Cooler looked up to the cloud of metallic debris that had once been his father. Taking aim the elder Frost Prince unleashed his Death Flash with pinpoint accuracy. The blinding orange beam enveloped every inch of their father's former body reducing every metal bit to ash in the blink of an eye.

As the last piece of Meta-Cold was atomized by his brother's blast Frieza felt the strain his mind was under dissipate. Taking the chance to take a deep breath Frieza revelled in his latest achievement. Besting his father and simultaneously exerting the greatest amount of mental energy he had ever used left the Frost Prince with a self-assured grin.

"Don't look so smug brother, try to remember that this was a team effort" Cooler chuckled making his way up to his brother's position in the sky. Despite his cautionary words Cooler's own face was also graced with a similarly smug grin. They had managed to finally best their father, all without needing to resort to Cooler's fifth form. That fact alone bolstered Cooler's confidence in his immeasurable strength, if his own father, who had been enhanced by The Big Gete Star, couldn't beat him then who honestly could?

"I suppose you're right brother this was a team effort, you did get a good shot in here and there" Frieza chuckled clasping his older brother by the shoulder. Both brothers broke into hearty laughter at their shared triumph. They had never been the most adept at sharing as children mostly due to their father's constant meddling. Ironically the one thing they could both share, with certainty, was the demise of their father. They would both take home the glory of that victory.

Or they would have if Cooler wasn't suddenly struck with a vicious metal drop kick that sent him flying backwards. Frieza couldn't believe his eyes, _I tore that bastard into tiny pieces and then Cooler blasted those pieces into subatomic particles how the hell is he still here!?_

With an angered rush Frieza charged forward his aura a swirling mass of purple energy. Undeterred by his son's charge Meta-Cold spun around slamming his tail into Frieza's unprotected head knocking him out of his Ki fueled charge and leaving his body parallel to the ground. With an angered yell Meta-Cold appeared just above Frieza in order to deliver a powerful axe handle strike to his son sending him careening into the mainland once more creating a massive crater with his impact.

Recovered from the surprise attack Cooler charged his resurgent father with an animalistic snarl. _This is impossible! How did he survive?_ Cooler attempted another Death Flash hoping it would succeed this time. However once more his hopes were dashed as Meta-Cold backhanded the orange beam into a nearby plateau obliterating the structure. Undeterred Cooler pressed onwards looking to connect with an overhand right only to met with a brutal gut shot that knocked the wind out of the Frost Prince and broke two more of his ribs in the process.

With a quick sneer Meta-Cold planted his palm across Cooler's chest. Cooler only had enough time to look into the rage fueled eyes of his cybernetic father before the former monarch's energy wave blasted him out of the sky. Plummeting downwards Cooler slammed headfirst into the ground breaking apart part of the island he had slammed into.

Frieza having recovered from his own brutal attack rushed over to his brother's impact site. Landing on unsteady feet Frieza made his way over to the center of the crater his brother was buried in. Luckily Cooler's partially buried hand was sticking out of the ground just enough for Frieza to find him and pull him from the mess of rock and dirt.

Cooler emerged from the rubble coughing up dirt and rocks while Frieza lifted the pair into air. Planting their feet back on the blue grass of the Namekian ground Frieza nearly collapsed from exhaustion, this was getting ridiculous! They had vaporized Meta-Cold and he just came right back, good as new, how were they supposed to beat him if he just kept putting himself back together from the most miniscule part.

"It would appear that he survived that" Cooler chuckled wryly as Meta-Cold slowly descended upon the brothers. His face was turned down at them with a menacing glare. "We must have really pissed him off, he hasn't even said one word to us" Cooler continued to chuckle as Frieza panted at his side doing his best to recover what little stamina was left to him.

"Brother…" Frieza groaned in pain as he straightened his back and cracked his neck from side to side.

"Yes Frieza?" Cooler asked with that same bemused expression he had since Frieza pulled him from the rubble.

"Why the hell haven't you transformed yet?" Frieza hissed, cracking his knuckles together to relieve the stress that had been building in them all day.

"Well to be honest I was saving it for a little dramatic tension" Cooler chuckled drily just as Meta-Cold touched down on the island they were on.

"D-dramatic… Tension!" Frieza snarled looking at his brother in disbelief. "You risked everything just to make this farce more entertaining?!" Frieza was beside himself, he had always been considered the most arrogant one in the family but clearly Cooler was also a contender for that prestigious title.

"To be fair I also thought I could take him in this form alone… oh well" Cooler shrugged taking a step forward to meet their advancing father. Focusing on the menacing form of their cybernetic father, Cooler grinned as Meta-Cold came to a halt in front on him. "I know our people are incredibly difficult to kill but this is just ridiculous!" Cooler chuckled once more, leaving Frieza absolutely befuddled by his brother's change in demeanour, had he lost his god damned mind?

Meta-Cold's indignant sneer slowly shifted into a small grin at his son's words. "That is true but you know full well it is The Big Gete Star that has bestowed this gift upon me, my natural organic makeup was simply holding me back from becoming so much more" Meta-Cold proclaimed breaking his icy silence. "I will offer you a place at my side one last time my sons come along quietly and become one with The Big Gete Star, I promise you that you won't regret it" Meta-Cold held out a hand towards his battle weary sons.

Frieza and Cooler both looked at each other and nodded slowly, neither brother needed telepathy to know what the other was thinking, their father was long gone. The day the great King Cold offered the olive branch while he held the advantage was the day the universe would undoubtedly implode on itself. "And if we continue to refuse?" Frieza asked taking a stand next to his brother.

"Your cooperation is not required Frieza, you and Cooler either join me willingly or I will force you to" Meta-Cold chuckled the red glint in his eyes reflecting the malice that raged inside. "There's no point fighting me in your current state you wouldn't last much longer against me, such is the price of an organic body."

Taking a step forward Cooler planted his feet into the ground to steady himself for what he was about to do. "Tell me father, you keep praising your cybernetic body as if it's the greatest thing in the universe but I have to wonder, can it do this?" Cooler questioned as he released the hold he had been keeping on his power. Without warning Cooler's aura exploded outward in a maelstrom of purple Ki, the ground underneath the oldest Frost Prince buckled under the pressure and began to crack and break apart.

With an intense scream Cooler flared his power to the heavens as his muscles bulged from his immense energy. The clouds in the sky seemed to be drawn towards the howling Frost Demon whose power just kept climbing. The converging clouds soon blotted out the sun casting the land around the combatants in shadow with the only source of light emanating from Cooler himself. Frieza watched as lightning arced from the sky above and slammed down around his brother.

Watching his brother's incredible transformation Frieza was reminded of another being's fateful transformation. The feeling of Déjà vu was palpable but Frieza was simply glad to be on the transformed individual's side this time around. With a blinding flash of light Cooler's energy burst forth breaking the island they were standing on apart. Frieza took to the air just in time to watch the crumbling chunks of rock get consumed by the ravenous ocean. Cooler's power increase had turned the already turbulent ocean into a violent maelstrom with the elder Frost Prince at the center.

Unfazed by the incredible display of power Meta-Cold cocked an eyebrow at his eldest son's form with interest. "Intriguing I did not realise that our race had further transformations, once you're captured I suppose I'll have to have you studied" the former monarch chuckled at Cooler's imposing physique.

"The key to the transformation is simple father, pure unrequited rage" Cooler stated his power crackling around him menacingly as the pools of crimson that had become his eyes bored holes into the impassive cybernetic Frost Demon. "However I doubt you've ever felt the rage that is required to undergo the change" Cooler commented examining his hand and the energy flowing around it. He had transformed plenty of times in the past but this was the first time that Cooler could honestly say he had pushed himself to one hundred percent of his total power. The energy coursing through his veins was intoxicating and he felt the unrelenting need to smash, to destroy, to wipe out everything around him.

 _Remember Cooler this power is nothing short of astonishing but it is still yours, you control it not the other way around._

Shuyo's words still held true to Cooler who took a steadying breath to calm his tense nerves. Hours of meditation alongside the verdant monk had given Cooler the mental fortitude to keep full control of this incredible power. He would not squander all of Shuyo's hard work by flying off the handle with the first test of his full power.

"I must thank you father, it is because of you that I discovered this form in the first place, surely you can see the irony that it will be the force I use to end you" Cooler's chuckle was already deepened by his enhanced form but with the bone mask now covering his face his voice had become a deep baritone exuding menace and wrath.

"Powerful or not you're still organic and therefore I still hold the advantage" Meta-Cold growled taking up a fighting stance in preparation for the coming battle.

"Let's test that" Cooler grunted and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"What!?" Meta-Cold exclaimed at his son's sudden disappearance. Turning around, the former tyrant found his quarry floating with his back turned to him. Cooler seemed to be busy inspecting his fist casually.

"I really need to watch my strength, flew right through you" Cooler chuckled before turning his piercing red stare to his father once more. "Are you not going to put yourself together? You'll look quite foolish walking around with a gigantic hole in your chest" Cooler's bemused tone was almost as confusing to Meta-Cold as his words.

"What hole…?" Meta-Cold demanded before his eyes drifted to look down at his torso, what he saw caused his artificial eyes to widen in shock. His pristine body had been smashed inward and the nanomachines that swarmed through his body were only just beginning to repair the damage. This was impossible! Diagnostic scans only picked up on the damage four point five seconds after it had been inflicted, was Cooler moving faster than The Big Gete Star's internal mainframe could keep track of?

As if in response to his query Cooler disappeared once more reappearing just in front of Meta-Cold who only raised his guard in time to feel Cooler's titanic punch tear through his arms like they were nothing. Cooler transitioned to an up kick that sent Meta-Cold's shattered remains spiralling into the air with dizzying speed. By the time the former monarch was able to cease his spinning his arms had reattached and he was busy scanning the devastated Namekian landscape for signs of his duplicitous son.

"I swear you will pay for that boy" Cold hissed angrily keeping his guard up.

"Take it out of my allowance pops!" Cooler exclaimed, reappearing just in front of Meta-Cold with an outstretched arm. Using his outstretched forearm Cooler clotheslined his cybernetic father with a tremendous crash that sent cracks spreading throughout his metallic body. Spotting an easy opening Cooler vanished once more in a burst of super speed before appearing just above his father's airborne form. Charging downward Cooler slammed both feet into his father's chest driving him towards a lone island in the middle of the raging ocean.

Cooler's downward momentum drove the pair deep into the ground forming an enormous crater that threatened to consume the entire island. "Let's see how much damage that piece of scrap can take!" Cooler roared in his damaged father's face before driving his enlarged fist into Meta-Cold's chest denting the sturdy metal with the impact alone. Pulling back his right arm Cooler then threw a left punch that smashed Meta-Cold further into the ground with the magnitude of the impact.

That punch was immediately followed by another, and then another and another. Soon Cooler's arms were a blur as he rained blow after blow on his cybernetic father driving them both further into the ground with each strike. Cooler could just barely hear the sound of the island crumbling around them and the coming roar of ocean water that surged their way. Just before the rushing water reached their position Cooler pulled back before charging once more planting both fists into his father's chest and driving him through the island's surface, shattering the landmass in the process.

Both Frost Demons traded blows as they raced down through ocean depths. Natural light from the sun quickly faded but neither had trouble seeing due to Cooler's purple aura shining like a grim beacon in the swirling waters. Though they were both exchanging strikes Meta-Cold was dismayed to see that his punches and kicks did next to no damage while Cooler's thunderous punches shattered any part of his body they came into contact with.

After plunging through the depths aimlessly with nothing to see but his own enraged son, Meta-Cold finally felt his back slam against something solid. Though he was pleased that he was no longer plummeting uncontrollably, Meta-Cold still had to contend with his enhanced son who had not ceased his relentless attack.

Cooler slammed another fist into his father's chest tearing out another chunk of metal in the process. Cupping his hands together Cooler followed the punch with an incredible axe handle strike that broke the ground underneath the cybernetic Frost Demon's back. The shattered ground released an incredible amount of heat that was almost too much even for Cooler to bear. Grinning beneath his bone mask Cooler grabbed hold of his struggling adversary and slammed him once more into the ground breaking away more of the ground and releasing another burst of heat.

 _Seems like an oceanic vent, let's see how those nanomachines tolerate all this salt water, heat and pressure_ Cooler thought to himself slamming Meta-Cold once more into the crumbling crust of Namek.

 _ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! COMBINATION OF PRESSURE AND HEAT EXCEEDING ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS! STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY REDUCED TO 23%! PRESSURE AND ELEVATED LEVELS OF SODIUM HAVE RENDERED NANOMACHINES INOPERABLE RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL TO SAFELY REBOOT INTERNAL SYSTEMS!_

The warning messages surging through Meta-Cold's cybernetic brain were screaming at him to get to safety. If this kept up Cooler would smash his body to pulp and without the nanomachines being able to repair anything. Taking a chance Meta-Cold unleashed what little energy his damaged body could spare to propel himself into the ground avoiding another potentially lethal blow from his son in the process.

Tunneling through the ground as quickly as he could, Meta-Cold burst upwards through the crust and began to race back to the surface. Whether it was because of the swirling water around him or because his audio receivers had been damaged in the battle Meta-Cold couldn't pick up any actual sounds but the cybernetic Frost Demon was positive that Cooler was right on his tail.

Looking upwards Meta-Cold's damaged face broke into a smile as he saw the approaching surface. The dark clouds gathered during Cooler's transformation had dissipated and the cybernetic Frost Demon could see the brilliant orb of sunlight above him and he raced towards it putting on another burst of speed. The former monarch breached the water's surface with a tremendous splash raising both arms outward the cybernetic Frost Demon welcomed the glowing Namekian suns as they bathed him in their intense glow.

Turning around Meta-Cold braced himself for Cooler to make his resurgence. As the moment's stretched on Meta-Cold could feel a growing sense of unease creep into him, Cooler should have been right behind him what was taking him so long? Try as he might Meta-Cold couldn't see if his son was even approaching him from the ocean depths as the intense light from both Namekian suns glaring off the water nearly blinding him when he tried to pear into the green waters.

 _ERROR! OLD NAMEK WAS CONFIRMED TO HAVE THREE SUNS. NEW NAMEK HAS TWO BUT ONLY ONE IS VISIBLE DURING DAYTIME HOURS! ADVISE CHECKING OPTICS TO CONFIRM FUNCTIONALITY!_

Slowly turning his head around to look upwards Meta-Cold's eyes widened in horror at what was looming over him.

"Hello father, you didn't really think I would let Cooler have all the fun did you?" Frieza sniggered. Frieza was floating meters above Meta-Cold with his hand outstretched to the air above him. At the tip of his finger was a mass of fiery orange Ki and the source of the blinding light that shone across the waters of New Namek.

"Frieza you wouldn't dare you could blow up the whole damn planet with that!" Meta-Cold snarled angrily towards his snickering son.

"I definitely could, but I think I'll settle for just you this time around" Frieza smirked before whipping his finger downwards sending his Supernova, one of the moves his father himself taught him at a young age, hurtling towards Meta-Cold. "I'll see you in hell father!" Frieza roared over the sound of the Supernova.

Acting quickly Meta-Cold held up both hands to brace against the oncoming fireball. He didn't give a damn about whether or not Namek blew up again, but if that sphere hit the planet the damage to The Big Gete Star would be astronomical. "If you think I'll just let you get away with this boy think again!" Meta-Cold shouted over cacophony of Frieza's planet bursting attack.

"Oh I think we're both going to get away with it old man!" Cooler shouted as he rose from the watery depths, at the tip of his outstretched finger was a small sphere of orange energy.

Meta-Cold's eyes widened in shock as the sphere of energy swelled to a gargantuan size. "As Frieza said we'll have a nice little family get together once we're all in hell" Cooler chuckled before playfully flicking his finger forward. Cooler's own Supernova raced towards Meta-Cold who was still preoccupied with holding back Frieza's. With an angered shout Meta-Cold stuck out his mechanical feet hoping to lessen the impact of the second sphere of fiery death.

Cooler's attack impacted against Meta-Cold's feet almost buckling them from the intense pressure. Both Supernovas appeared to be at a stalemate as Meta-Cold desperately tried to hold both attacks back. The former monarch could feel the metal of his hands and feet beginning to melt under the incredible heat emanating from both attacks.

"What's say we finish this already" Cooler called out to Frieza who replied by pouring another burst of energy into his Supernova. Taking his brother's lead Cooler unleashed his own surge of energy and watched with grim satisfaction as both Supernovas inched closer to each other.

Amidst the roaring attacks Meta-Cold was literally falling apart under the strain. The intense heat mixed with overwhelming pressure was proving too much even for his cybernetic body. With a sudden lurch the former frost monarch felt his arms give out on him allowing Frieza's Supernova to advance unopposed. Frieza's attack slammed into Meta-Cold with a thunderous crash pressing him against Cooler's. The mixture of heat and pressure proved too much to endure and the cybernetic Frost Demon resigned himself to the void. The only solace he could take in all of this was that this whole debacle was far from over.

Both Supernovas detonated against one another in a flash of blinding orange light that shook Namek to its core. The combined explosions tore the clouds asunder and scorched the earth underneath while boiling the very waters around caught in the enormous heatwave. Frieza looked on at his and his brother's handiwork with a triumphant smirk. The Supernova was an attack meant for planetary destruction focusing so much power on a single being would have been too much for almost anyone to endure.

Glancing downwards Frieza spotted his brother slowly flying towards the mainland and decided to follow. Touching down beside his brother Frieza once more clasped his hand over the elder prince's shoulder before they both broke down into laughing fits. "So… he's dead now for good?" Frieza asked in between his snickering.

"He damn well better be" Cooler replied with a shrug before an approaching energy signature caught his attention. Glancing upwards Cooler nodded to get Frieza to spot the approaching crimson aura. "Seems like your girlfriend just couldn't stay away brother" Cooler chuckled as Aayla touched down kicking up a cloud of dust in the process.

"Sorry I'm late, my injuries took forever to heal" Aayla grumbled as she approached both Frost Demons. The holes in her tattered, bloodstained clothes revealed the brand new, unblemished skin underneath. "So you beat him?" Aayla asked glancing around to make sure that no piece of Meta-Cold had survived.

"He's about as dead as it gets my dear" Frieza assured her, wrapping his tail around the Securan beauty's waist.

"I'm just glad this is finally… are you kidding me!?" Cooler howled in outrage. His gaze was transfixed on the cliffs to the trio's left and his breathing was being released in angered huffs.

Frieza's own gaze turned to see what Cooler was looking at and what he saw brought with it a feeling of unprecedented dread. "No! No! No! We killed you damn it!" Frieza roared up to the top of cliffs where Meta-Cold once more stood before them smugly crossing his arms at the flabbergasted trio.

"You're partially right boys" Meta-Cold laughed, his voice echoing strangely from the cliffs. "You did an astounding job destroying that body but luckily for me…" Meta Cold spread his arms wide as countless other Meta-Colds walked up beside the first. "… I guess you could say there's more where he came from" the lead Meta-Cold chuckled followed by the countless doppelgangers surrounding him.

"There's no way this is happening we beat him damn it!" Frieza hissed angrily as the first line of Meta-Colds began dropping down from the cliff.

"On the Brightside this is great therapy for me" Aayla chuckled nervously watching as thousands of Meta-Colds surged down from the cliffs in a seemingly never ending torrent.

"Only father would think that having a few thousand more of him would be a good thing" Cooler snarled taking up a fighting stance. Glancing back towards Aayla and Frieza Cooler regarded the pair with a wary eye. Neither was at one hundred percent, Aayla may have said she was all healed up but the barely concealed limp and clearly bruised ribcage said otherwise. "Listen you two, I want you to get out of here, I can take care of this myself. Get to the ship and take off if I fail blow up the whole damn planet do you understand?" Cooler commanded.

Cooler's icy stare was broken by Frieza's lighthearted laughter as he too dropped into a fighting stance preparing for the oncoming horde. "Cooler I've never listened to you once in my life why would you think I would start now?" Frieza replied with a smirk that Cooler couldn't help but return under his bone mask.

"And let's face it what kind of bodyguard would I be if I left my client unattended" Aayla shrugged as well taking up her position beside her boyfriend.

Resigning themselves to the oncoming horde, the three unlikely defenders of Namek braced themselves and began to increase their power. There was no holding back against this unending wave before them. If they didn't stop The Big Gete Star now it would swarm across the universe like a plague enveloping all into its collective conscience while eliminating everything else that stood before it. As the ground shook from the collective march of the advancing horde of cybernetic Frost Demons Cooler, Aayla and Frieza shared one last glance with each other.

"Together?"

"Together!"

"Together… until the bitter end."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hello everyone I have returned and I bring with me gifts! Namely my longest chapter to date and boy was this an undertaking. I have to apologize (as I always do despite all of you wonderful people assuring me that it's ok) for my tardiness with this chapter. Life has been hectic and this chapter proved to be a daunting task.**

 **First and foremost I need to address one of the biggest changes I had to make in my own story. I'm of course talking about Meta-Cold and the way he talks. In previous chapters he would address himself as we, signifying that he and The Big Gete Star are in fact one. While it seemed like a good idea at the time looking back it left a lot of his dialogue sounding off or disjointed from what was going on. In fact I actually had originally written almost a quarter of this chapter like that before reviewing it and realise that it didn't flow as well as I had originally hoped. So because of this I have changed the way he speaks to be more normal, I will also retroactively change previous chapters to reflect that, got to keep up continuity after all.**

 **Originally I had planned to push Nadan's section to next chapter however I changed my mind on that one as I felt it acted as a good reprieve from the nonstop action and let me get some time to work with Dende and Moori who will be very important for the rest of the arc.**

 **It also works in the overall style of DBZ, in almost every major fight in the show there were always breakaways from the action to see how others were fairing at the time. So I felt like a small break in the action helped keep this from being purely action based, helped set up for next chapter and gave us a little insight into both Dende and Moori's roles.**

 **I had to watch a lot of fight choreography in DBZ to prepare for this chapter as I had to juggle four different styles (five if you count Cooler's more brutal transformed style) while simultaneously making sure they all felt unique.**

 **Not going to lie next chapter is gonna be a nightmare to plan out because it's going to be one giant mosh pit of Meta-Colds. That's right I'm not going to half ass it and cut the fight like the movie did (major wasted opportunity there). Also that whole being captured like Goku and Vegeta did in the movie is not how things are going to play out, that avenue leaves some gaping plot holes that I really don't want to deal with.**

 **Also I should note that next chapter is going to get pretty damn dark so… viewer discretion is advised.**

 **Other than that I'm glad to be back and hope you all enjoyed the read. Also hope everyone had an awesome Halloween. Until next time folks!**


	28. Chapter 28 - One Thousand To Go

Nadan would consider himself to be a master of a great many things. In the realms of science he had yet to find one more advanced than he. As an engineer he was unparalleled in his ability to create and understand the inner workings of nearly any mechanical device. His knowledge of medicine exceeded that of even the most qualified surgeons and physicians. But there was one thing the Malakan prodigy had never quite mastered, one aspect of his life that always seemed just beyond his grasp.

He couldn't handle stress worth a damn.

Try as he might to calm his own nerves Nadan could tell it was a losing battle. He had precious little time to waste as the battle for New Namek raged on just a few short miles away. If he was unsuccessful then this whole venture could mark the end of the universe itself. So ignoring the sweat pouring from his brow, pushing aside the pain in his fingers as they danced across the keys of his station and doing his best to ignore the planet shaking tremors emanating from his lord's titanic struggle with his father Nadan pushed onward.

"Perhaps you should take a break Nadan" Moori said from beside the Malakan scientist. The Namekian elder as well as several others had returned to the bridge shortly after Tukkan had provided them with some refreshing beverages. They all wanted to know what was going on outside, unfortunately they quickly found out that Nadan was in a less than talkative mood at the time. Luckily Dende was there to get most of his people's attention and show them the battle itself through his own station. The only one not to watch the unfolding war of attrition was Moori who stood by Nadan's side, sensing the Malakan's mounting stress.

"I can't! If I don't succeed and quickly Lord Frieza won't stand a chance out there!" Nadan hissed as he slid his way over to a different monitor to check on a program he had been running. After reading the negative results Nadan slammed his hands down on the console itself before opening up a fresh program to run.

"I'm afraid I don't understand, surely Frieza and the rest of your crew can handle his father even if he has been enhanced" Moori replied with a small frown. There was something that Nadan wasn't telling them and whatever it was it must have been incredibly important to have the scientist in such a huff.

"Don't get me wrong I have the utmost faith that Lord Frieza could destroy King Cold, new body and all, if this were a fair fight" Nadan stated tearing his eyes away from his screen to stare at the Namekian elder with bloodshot eyes. "But this is nowhere near a fair fight" Nadan continued with a scowl. "The Big Gete Star has infused King Cold's new body with the most advanced nanotechnology I have ever come across, highly adaptive and capable of repairing any and all damage done to the body itself. If that weren't bad enough there's also…" Nadan was suddenly cut off by a sharp beeping coming from the monitor to his far left. Turning to face that screen Nadan felt a small swell of relief at the confirmation message being displayed.

"What was that noise?" One of the Namekians standing by Dende asked while the others watched the raging battle on the screens in front of them.

"Progress!" Nadan exclaimed, a small smile returning to his otherwise haggard appearance. It looked like the Malakan had aged a decade in the span of just fifteen minutes. Sliding back over to another screen Nadan's face lit up in a bright grin as his hands once more began their dance across the computer's keys. "I'm starting to make some real progress now against that damn AI, it thinks it can kick me out but it's dead wrong, I'm in now and I'm not going anywhere!" Nadan exclaimed punching in another set of commands before turning his attention to a separate monitor.

"I don't understand I thought your friend brought that robot here so you could use it to disguise yourself" Moori asked gesturing to the dismantled remains of the Cyclopean Guard.

"In a sense, I stripped all the access codes and relevant model data so I could enter the system" Nadan explained tossing a sparking datapad into a steadily growing pile of fried machines. When Moori's uncertain expression remained Nadan decided to further his explanation. "You see before The Big Gete Star's internal mainframe was a solid wall, nothing came in or out without the AI's say so" Nadan explained taking a gulp of water that Tukkan had left for him earlier.

"So to get inside you disguised yourself and walked in the front door?" Moori asked his understanding of the Malakan's situation deepening steadily as he watched the short scientist work his magic.

"Precisely! That wall allowed The Big Gete Star to inspect any incoming attempts to access it at its leisure" Nadan's explanation continued as he refocused on the screens before him. "Tricking it to let me in was my only hope, brute force proved to be… less than successful so I had to turn my entire system into a Traverc horse if you will."

"But aren't you still hidden?" Moori asked uncertainly taking a step forward to inspect what some of the screens were displaying. Each was filled with windows of flowing code, rows upon rows of progress bars and other programs the elder Namekian couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Heavens no!" Nadan laughed surprising several of the Namekians aboard the bridge with them. "No the AI realised its mistake almost immediately but it was already too late, I was in" Nadan's visage darkened once more while his fingers hammered in further commands. "I've obtained a foothold and I'll be damned if I let Lord Frieza down and let this over touted piece of software best me!"

"So now that you're inside you're attempting to interfere with the machine?" Moori asked. It was obvious that was the Malakan's intentions but the Namekian elder could tell that Nadan's stress levels dipped when he was explaining things.

"Oh no, I'm not going to just interfere with it…" Nadan chuckled, a dark grin spreading across his face as another window displayed a successful result. "I'm going to tear the entire system asunder, by the time I'm done with it The Big Gete Star will be lucky if it can calculate pi to five decimal places" Nadan's triumphant smirk grew as he tore through several more systems, many of which were directly linked with one another and so they fell like dominos.

Nadan fell back into intense silence as he continued his cyber war with The Big Gete Star while Moori continued to monitor the easily agitated scientist. Over on the other side of the room the sound of Dende and his fellow brethren was beginning to pick up as they watched the battle between Frieza, Cooler and Meta-Cold unfold. At first most of them kept a respective silence and calm as the titanic struggle wore on but as the minutes ticked by the group steadily grew more animated cheering with every success and groaning with every set back.

Over in the corner Tukkan couldn't help but chuckle at this latest turn of events. Out of all the people of the universe, the Namekians were the last that Tukkan would have ever thought capable of rooting for Frieza. "Enemy of my enemy I guess" the smirking chef muttered as Dende leapt into the air in excitement.

"This is it! They have him!" Dende exclaimed as the rest of the viewers cheered on. From his position along the wall Tukkan had a clear view of the action and had to agree with Dende. The drone had a perfect view of Meta-Cold being enveloped by two Supernovas, one from Frieza the other curtesy of Cooler. The cybernetic tyrant's pristine body was being incinerated by the intense heat of the planet busting attacks and seemed to be completely unable to escape. The surveillance drone managed to obtain one last look at Meta-Cold before the twin Supernovas detonated.

Realising what was coming Tukkan sprung to action getting everyone's attention. "Everyone grab hold of something!" Tukkan exclaimed bracing himself against the captain's chair. No sooner had Tukkan given his warning then the entire planet violently shook from the enormous explosion that the frost princes created. Dende and his fellow viewers were able to latch onto the monitoring station itself though many of them were thrown about as The Nemesis felt the intense pressure wave that swept across the landscape. Moori had anchored himself to one of Nadan's computers while simultaneously grabbing hold of the Malakan himself, who had been too busy to heed his friend's warning.

As the shaking began to subside and everyone started picking themselves back up, Dende quickly made his way back to the monitoring station after being thrown into several of his brethren. Hopping up to look at the screens Dende was disheartened to see that only two had managed to survive the blast, one of which appeared to be heavily damaged judging by its hampered gait and flickering image. Quickly taking control of the still functioning drone Dende began scanning the devastated landscape for signs of life. His attempts were rewarded as the camera fell upon Frieza and Cooler who were watching intently as Aayla came in for a landing.

"They did it! They won! Nadan you don't have to worry anymore, Frieza did it!" Dende cheered as the rest of the Namekians closed in to see the good news for themselves. True to the young healer's words there was no sign of Meta-Cold to be seen.

"I can't believe it they actually won!"

"This is fantastic!"

"Now we just have to deal with that huge eyesore!"

"Guys should we really be celebrating like this, this is still Frieza after all."

"He's got a point this is still Frieza we're talking about…"

"Lighten up for once, this is a victory, we can deal with the details later!"

Despite the cheering and conversations on the other side of the room Nadan felt no relief just a growing sense of dread. By no means was this over not by a longshot. So while the rest of the guests aboard The Nemesis cheered and celebrated, Nadan pushed himself even harder. _Time is still of the essence, if I can't succeed then this victory will be pointless!_ His hands quickly began to blur their way across his keyboards and sweat once more poured from his brow and down the ridge of his pointed beak-like mouth.

Noticing his growing agitation Tukkan made his way over to his best friend, a look of concern spreading across his face. "Hey Nad, what's up?" Tukkan asked worriedly. He had seen Nadan tense before, in fact not a day went by where something didn't manage to find a way to stress the Malakan out, but this was a level of anxiety rarely seen, even by Tukkan.

"Just go watch the drone's feed!" Nadan snapped garnering the attention of everyone on the bridge as well an incredibly concerned look from both Moori and Tukkan.

"But why Nadan? They won didn't they?" Dende asked uncertainly sparing worried glances to the other Namekians at his side.

"No Dende, we're not out of this mess… not yet" Nadan replied darkly as he began running several more programs while closing a series of windows. Suddenly Nadan's system released an ear piercing screech while several monitors lit up bright red. "No! No not now I need more time!" Nadan exclaimed plugging a fresh datapad into one of the ports left available to him.

"What's wrong with… no that can't be!" Dende stepped back in shock, staring at the monitors if front of him with a growing look of horror and shock. Similar expressions passed over the rest of the Namekians as they watched a thousand Meta-Colds descend down the side of a nearby cliff. The small army of cybernetic tyrants were converging on a single location, the three unlikely defenders that had taken arms against this seemingly unstoppable metal foe. As Dende watched Frieza and his team drop into fighting stances to prepare for the coming onslaught he slowly turned his head up to see the slouched scientist staring back gravely.

"I can only hope that Lord Frieza can hold out long enough for me to make a difference" Nadan stated before turning his attention back to his monitors. _Please Lord Frieza just hold on I just need time!_

* * *

With Cooler and Aayla at his side Frieza surveyed the approaching army of Meta-Colds that steadily advanced on their position. The thunderous clamor of the cybernetic army's footsteps could be heard for miles and the ground shook ever more violently as they made their methodical approach. Even from the distance spanning between them, Frieza's teeth still rattled along with the shaking ground.

"They're just heading straight for us…" Aayla muttered, squinting her eyes at the approaching army ripped straight from her worst nightmares. Her injuries had barely finished healing, truth be told she was not ready for this fresh challenge.

"It would seem that way" Frieza grunted in response, quickly creaking his neck from left to right.

The three defenders quickly shared a quick glance at each other before coming to an unspoken agreement, it was now or never. In unison all three warriors began powering up, putting every ounce of energy they could into their weary bodies. Their collective shout managed to overcome the cacophony generated by their advancing adversaries. The ground at their feet buckled under the pressure shattering into miniscule fragments before rising into the air around them forming a barrier of rock and debris.

Frieza could feel his throat begin to strain as he roared channelling as much power as he could. Lightning arced down from the sky above hitting the trio and surrounding their already swelling auras with intense electrical energy. Purple and crimson auras merged together to form a sphere of vibrant energy, that kicked up hurricane like winds uprooting nearby trees and turning the once peaceful ocean into torrential vortexes.

Aayla was the first to top out, her body doing its best to sustain the heightened energy levels while both Frieza and Cooler's already immense power continued to climb with no sign of slowing down. Her muscles were bulged outwards stretching at her already tight fitting clothing, she could feel the muscles in her Lakee tense and coil with barely restrained power. She had never pushed herself to such heights and she was unsure of how long she could sustain it.

To Frieza's left Cooler stood, feet planted firmly into what was left of the ruined ground. The elder frost prince's muscular tail lashed out wildly from the electrifying energy coursing through his veins. Underneath his impassive bone mask his teeth were grit together from the intense exertion of powering up to such an incredible extent. His muscles bulged menacingly and the pearly white bio-armour thickened around his chest while the pauldrons around his shoulders closed inwards sealing off the gap between them. He had yet to find an opponent worthy of the kind of power he was gathering even Frieza would have been ill suited to contest his overwhelming power.

But contest it he would, for no matter how much Cooler increased his own power Frieza was right there with him. He may not have achieved the augmented transformation but he had mastered his unsealed form at this point like no other Frost Demon before him. This allowed Frieza the ability to delve deeper than even he thought possible to reach new peaks of strength and with the coming wave of cybernetic abominations fast approaching, the former tyrant knew he would have to delve very deep indeed.

Still feeling a significant gap between himself and his brother Frieza pushed himself even farther utilising power he hadn't tapped into since his first sojourn to Namek. His muscles bulged outward at an alarming rate, veins all across his body pulsed from the energy now surging through his body. After the last time he pushed himself this far resulted in a catastrophic defeat Frieza had vowed to focus on a less physically draining way of gaining more energy. But there was little other choice for the once tyrant at this point, if he was going to keep pace with his brother his body would have to pay the price.

 _What the hell do you think you're doing?!_ Aayla's shocked voice ran through Frieza's mind.

 _Making sure we win_ , Frieza's response was curt having to train most of his focus on his body's rapidly swelling power. With Frieza's teeth clenched firmly shut he was relegated to communicating with the Securan solely through their link. Frieza's shoulders suddenly engorged themselves widening his stance and releasing an intense shockwave. With a shuddering gasp Frieza's power reached its pinnacle, it had been years since he fought Goku on Old Namek like this and yet here he was again facing a new enemy but with the old form.

"All right now that all the screaming is out of the way shall we get this started, I believe their within firing range at this point" Cooler drawled taking a quick glance at his younger brother. Cooler had to admit he was quite impressed, the power Frieza was giving off was tantamount to his own. However even a passing glance told Cooler how much strain Frieza's body was undergoing trying to maintain this fresh surge of power.

Glancing up Frieza could see the approaching wave of cybernetic Frost Demons. Releasing his clenched teeth Frieza let out a shuddering breath that turned into a dry chuckle. "Well it was certainly kind of father to wait so patiently for us" Frieza's chuckle may not have sounded very different than usual but his body was itching all over and he could feel a steadily increasing heat spread through his body at an alarming rate. He needed to let off some steam and quickly otherwise his body could very well tear itself apart under the strain.

With a quick nod towards his brother and partner Frieza thrust both hands forward forming a crackling sphere of purple Ki in the palms of his hands. "When you attack make sure there's not a damn thing left!" Frieza shouted over the sound of the Meta-Colds who had now broken into a full sprint towards the three defenders.

Not wasting any time Cooler and Aayla both sprang to action. Cooler lifted his index finger into the air and quickly formed yet another Supernova, this one even stronger than the last. Aayla clasped both hands together in front of her chest forming her own sphere of crackling crimson energy her muscles rippling from the massive exertion her own body was going through.

Cooler was the first to strike, unleashing his Supernova towards the deadly hoard with an angered roar, his voice only deepened by the bone mask covering his face. Not waiting for his attack to detonate Cooler dashed headfirst into the fray staying right behind the speeding planet buster. Cooler's Supernova slammed into the Meta-Colds' right flank with a cataclysmic impact. The majority of the Meta-Colds were able to jump out of the way of the deadly attack but a handful of the ones at the forefront were unable to react in time and were quickly overtaken by the fiery sphere.

Squeezing his hand together into a fist, Cooler detonated the Supernova scattering a sizeable chunk of the Big Gete Star's army. Rather than avoid the fiery blast Cooler used the attack as cover, dashing straight through the colossal explosion and exiting out the other side in a plume of fiery Ki. Still cloaked in the fiery remains of his planet bursting attack Cooler raced towards his first target, this one looked no different from the other Meta-Colds surrounding him but this one found himself alone and without support from his cybernetic clones. "Good enough place to start" Cooler grunted putting on another burst of speed Cooler slammed his fist straight through the Meta-Cold's chest.

The Meta-Cold's eyes widened in shock at the lethal blow, Cooler had moved to fast for even The Big Gete Star's systems to track. Planting his foot down Cooler let momentum carry the damaged clone off of his arm before thrusting out his left hand. Just as the Meta-Cold's eyes locked with the palm of Cooler's outstretched hand he was immediately blinded by the searing orange light of the frost prince's Death Flash. The enormous Ki blast engulfed the cybernetic Frost Demon reducing the technological tyrant to nothing but a few charred cinders.

With a deep chuckle and a crack of his knuckles Cooler turned to face the incoming group of Meta-Colds that had focused their attention on him. "Alright who's next?" Cooler laughed as he flared his aura in anticipation. "That's more like it, come on down!" Cooler laughed leaping forward with such force that the ground at his feet buckled under the strain.

Just as Cooler unleashed his Supernova Frieza and Aayla both sprang into action, thrusting her hands forward Aayla unleashed her own attack at the approaching army. "Theta Crush!" The angered Securan yelled firing the crimson Ki stream that scorched the ground as it passed over it streaking towards the advancing cybernetic hoard.

Despite the strain his body was under Frieza couldn't help but grin at the azure beauty. _Despite almost certain destruction she's still calling out her attacks, well it would be rude for her to be the only one._ "Death Cannon!" Frieza roared unleashing the crackling wave of destructive purple Ki. The force of the intense charged blast obliterated most of the terrain behind the pair.

The twin beams of purple and crimson Ki rocketed towards the Meta-Cold's at an unbelievable speed before combining into one solid beam of destructive energy. As with Cooler's Supernova the Meta-Colds on the front line had little time to react. So while those at the rear of the Big Gete Star's advance were able to disperse to avoid the oncoming blast those at the front were forced to brace against the impact. Despite the combined efforts of several Meta-Colds bracing as one against the colossal paired attack they were no match and were quickly overcome by the destructive wave.

Looking at the mile long trench they had dug with grim satisfaction Frieza gave Aayla a quick nod as the cybernetic hoard refocused on them. Flaring their surging Ki in unison Frieza formed a crackling sphere of purple energy around himself while Aayla did the same with her own energy. As one the pair leapt into the air Frieza cloaked in his Nova Strike and Aayla in her Gamma Impact. The pair slammed headlong into the Meta-Colds scattering many with the ferocity of the conjoined attack.

As they slammed their way through to the center of the group Aayla was knocked from Frieza's side by a surprise drop kick from a Meta-Cold from above. Spinning around to go back for his Securan partner Frieza found himself facing a pair of Meta-Colds charging him, both with the same overconfident smirk his father had always worn. "Out of my way!" Frieza roared attacking with a thunderous straight right punch. The punch landed true and much to Frieza's own shock went straight through one of the Meta-Colds' face. Shocked by how easily his punch went through the cybernetic Frost Demon Frieza watched the body plummet out of the air, its head already beginning to reform itself.

That momentary distraction was all the other Meta-Colds needed to once again press their attack. Three fresh cybernetic tyrants lunged at Frieza forcing him back with their combined attack. Ducking and dodging the storm of punches and kicks Frieza could feel his body burn from the exertion of combating so many adversaries at his body's physical limit. Ducking under a right cross from one on his left Frieza retaliated with a quick Death Beam that pierced through that attacker's abdomen sending him falling to the ground.

Frieza's counter attack was rewarded with a double axe handle from above that sent him spiralling after the plummeting Meta-Cold. The wound Frieza had inflicted on that Meta-Cold would have been fatal for almost any organic being but the Meta-Cold had already corrected its downwards freefall and was waiting for the Frost Prince with a smug smile on his metallic face. "Give up boy!" The Meta-Cold called out before disappearing and reappearing just in front of Frieza slamming a powerful knee into the former tyrant's face sending him back up to where the other Meta-Colds were waiting.

Frieza's eyes widened in anger as he once again found himself face to face with his father's smug smirk. "It's not like you can beat all of-" The Meta-Cold began before it was knocked away with a powerful slap from Frieza's bulging tail. "Not bad my son he got quite some dist-" Another began before Frieza reared his head back and slammed it into him sending him hurtling into the roaring ocean. "A headbutt… how unrefined my boy" a third Meta-Cold chuckled as he repressed the attack flanked by three fresh Meta-Colds.

"Shut up!" Frieza roared flaring his aura outward to stall their advance. Frieza used the opening to attack with a vicious uppercut that sent one metallic enemy hurtling upwards. His primary attack though successful had left him open to a powerful liver kick from one Cold while a second snaked in a left hook that knocked the Frost Prince into another Meta-Cold's waiting grasp.

Locking his arms underneath Frieza's armpits the Meta-Cold cackled as two more Meta-Colds closed in from the front. Attempting to free himself with his tail Frieza found that another Meta-Cold had already secured his grip on the Frost Prince's tail holding it in place with his steely grip. The first Meta-Cold to attack landed a solid gut shot that Frieza's muscled abs were able to resist. With angered snarl Frieza countered the attack with a pair of Eye Lasers. The twin pair of purple beams flashed from the Frost Prince's eyes burning a pair of holes into the Meta-Cold's grinning face.

As that Meta-Cold fell away another charged in with a front kick aimed directly for Frieza's throat. Undeterred Frieza lunged downward taking the two cybernetic tyrants holding onto him along for the ride. The front flip did its job as it put the Meta-Cold holding him in the Full Nelson into the path of the powerful kick. Such a blow would have crippled a normal being but at this point Frieza knew better. Using the shock of the sudden change in positioning to his advantage Frieza whipped his tail downwards breaking through the grip of the Meta-Cold holding it and slamming it into the pair of cybernetic demons who had just collided with each other. Breaking away from the trio Frieza quickly formed a Death Ball at the tip of his finger and hurled it downwards engulfing the three Meta-Colds in the planet bursting attack.

No sooner had those three Meta-Colds been reduced to ash then Frieza once again found himself accosted by more of his father's doppelgangers. Blocking one punch with his forearm Frieza countered with a thunderous hook that sent one of the Meta-Colds careening into another. Shrugging off a flurry of blows from his left Frieza lunged forward slamming both hands into another enemy halting his attack. Following the charge Frieza yelled as he unleashed a point blank Death Cannon, the energy wave succeeded in vaporizing the top half of the Meta-Cold which tumbled back down to Namek's surface. Knowing full well the pair of legs would simply put itself back together Frieza raced after them only for another Meta-Cold to lock his arm around his neck in an ironclad chokehold.

Gritting his teeth Frieza launched himself backwards with a burst of Ki slamming both him and his assailant into the side of a cliff dislodging the Meta-Cold in the process. Spinning around Frieza fired a wide wave of Ki that enveloped both the Meta-Cold and the entire cliff they had slammed against reducing both to subatomic particles.

Expecting another rush of Meta-Colds Frieza whirled around with his fist cocked back and at the ready only to be stuck by a painful energy blast to the shoulder. Looking upwards Frieza was met with a veritable firing squad as a group of five Meta-Colds had aligned themselves into a tight formation. Each one of the Meta-Colds had their finger pointed at him and quickly unleashed a wave of silvery Death Beams. The piercing energy blasts quickly overwhelmed Frieza's defences and the frost prince was quickly shot out of the air by torrent of energy blasts.

With an angered huff Frieza realigned himself before charging back upwards once again cloaked in his Nova Strike. "Bastards!" Frieza roared as he streaked upwards his Nova Strike diverting the incoming energy volley. Frieza slammed into the Meta-Cold on the far right, ripping straight through his metallic chassis and sending both halves tumbling away from the enraged Frost Demon who quickly unleashed a pair of Ki blasts that vanquished them. Frieza glanced up just in time to see the other four Meta-Colds bring their hands to bare, each one had a sphere of crackling silver energy at the ready. Without enough time to form a proper defense Frieza braced himself for the incoming blasts.

"Zeta Slash!" A familiar voice rang out amongst the sounds of battle. The Meta-Colds, also hearing the voice looked up just in time to see a storm of Ki blades streak down towards them from above. The blades carved straight through the killer quartet leaving most of them in tattered pieces before a streak of intense crimson energy engulfed what was left of them.

Looking upwards to the source of the blast Frieza was relieved to see Aayla was still fighting, though her appearance did form a pit of worry in the Frost Demon's stomach. Panting heavily from the exertion of fighting at such a heightened level Aayla was doing her best to keep herself going. Most of her clothing was in ruins, only her tattered body suit that she wore underneath her normal clothing was keeping her decent and even that was barely holding on. What had Frieza really worried though were the bloodstains plastered all over her body and face. While there may not have been any visible cuts or open wounds, a testament to her healing factor. The copious amounts of still fresh bodily fluids splattered across her skin was a testament to the hell she was going through, though Frieza had a feeling he didn't look much better.

Planting themselves back to back both Aayla and Frieza observed the converging Meta-Colds with grim smirks. "You know it's not too late to back out of this and leave" Frieza chuckled wiping a stream of purple blood from his bruised lip.

"What are you kidding me?" Aayla scoffed shaking her hand as her body realigned the previously broken bones within it. "Do you know how many King Colds I've killed so far? Best therapy ever!" Aayla laughed as she quickly fired a pair of Giga Cannons to keep the advancing Meta-Colds back.

"Yes I imagine this whole ordeal is quite cathartic" Frieza drawled taking note of his brother in the distance. While the details were a mystery to him for now Frieza could tell Cooler was doing just fine by himself.

Without warning a Meta-Cold appeared just overhead attempting to attack from above with a surprise tail swipe. Moving as one both Frieza and Aayla separated from each other allowing the Meta-Cold to miss his attack and leave him vulnerable between the battling pair. Spinning around, both Frost Demon and Securan unleashed Ki blasts towards one another. Both purple and crimson Ki blasts collided with the attacking Meta-Cold caught in the middle. Unable to withstand the combined assault the cybernetic Frost Demon collapsed under the collective pressure of both Ki blasts and, like so many others at that point, vanished in a blinding flash of light.

Aayla gave Frieza a tired grin she was quickly coming to her limit, try as she might her body just couldn't keep up with the energy output and damage she was sustaining. Before she could move to rejoin with Frieza Aayla was slammed into the ground by a vicious knee from an attacking Meta-Cold while a second followed with a quick energy burst to the downed Securan.

The two Meta-Colds touched down beside the still smoking crater looking to finish the azure beauty once and for all. "She has such an annoying habit of surviving doesn't she?" The Cold on the right asked to which the other could only chuckle in response.

"Indeed she does, now how's about we end-" The second Meta-Cold was suddenly cut off as Frieza raced through the cloud of smoke with an enraged shout. Frieza made short work of both enemies, throwing a compact Death Ball at the one on the left which eradicated any trace of the mechanical menace. Turning his attention to the second Meta-Cold Frieza struck him with a powerful gut shot, crumpling his metallic abdomen before grasping both sides of the Demon's head. With a primal snarl Frieza slammed the cybernetic demon's head into his knee before transitioning to a backflip kick that sent the Meta-Cold spiralling into the air. With a quick flick of his wrist Frieza sent out yet another Death Ball chasing after the Meta-Cold. Turning around Frieza ignored the ground shaking explosion as he made his way over to the crater to see Aayla picking herself out of it.

"Asshole broke my jaw!" Aayla complained, though her words were somewhat muffled as she tried to realigned her shattered jawbone. Chuckling at the Securan's comment Frieza reached down to help her out of the smouldering hole. "Thanks hun I-" Aayla's face suddenly shifted to a darkened snarl before she thrust her fist towards Frieza. The shocked Frost Demon could only stand wide eyed as the azure beauty's Giga Cannon raced past his ear. Turning his head around he was met by the headless form of a Meta-Cold, who seemed to have been mere feet away from a surprise attack.

"Thanks" Frieza muttered as he hoisted Aayla out of the crater. Turning back to face the Meta-Cold who was just beginning to repair its damaged head Frieza fired a Psychokinesis Bomb into the Meta-Cold's chest. "Haven't used this one since Goku's little friend" Frieza chuckled as he sent the Meta-Cold hurtling into the air slamming into several others before detonating taking the out the entire group with the incredible blast.

"You know these guys seem a whole lot easier than the first one" Aayla commented while she kicked a Meta-Cold away while forcing a second back with a pair of Giga Cannons.

"Agreed" Frieza grunted in response while he punched a hole through one Meta-Cold and unleashing a Death Cannon on the one immediately behind them. "They're also a lot less talkative than before" the frost prince continued by slamming the damaged Meta-Cold into the ground with a double axe handle and finishing it with another searing Death Cannon. Making his way over to Aayla Frieza could feel his body straining from the power he was outputting, he was burning through his reserves like he had back against Goku. While not tactically the best move he needed to keep this pace up, the results so far were hard to argue against.

"Think that first one was the main body and these are just… I don't know backups?" Aayla asked trading a flurry of punches with a pair of Meta-Colds while a third closed in from behind. The third Meta-Cold was promptly batted away with a powerful tail strike from Frieza while Aayla blasted one of her current opponents apart with a Ki blast.

"An apt hypothesis" Frieza chuckled spinning around to deliver a thunderous kick to the side of Aayla's last Meta-Cold as she cut it down the middle with a burning Ki blade. Glancing up both Securan and Frost Demon spotted a veritable barrage of energy blasts streaking towards them. Vanishing in a burst of super speed both defenders dashed out of the way of the blasts leaving the damaged Meta-Cold to its demise by way of its own cloned forces.

Reappearing amidst the group of attackers Aayla and Frieza began exchanging blows with the cybernetic hoard at a furious pace. There was definitely something off about this whole situation, while still powerful, the hoard of cybernetic demons seemed to pale in comparison to the first Meta-Cold they had fought. While it was possible that Frieza, Cooler and Aayla had simply increased their own strength to such a significant degree that they now eclipsed the Meta-Colds. That explanation didn't sit well with the frost prince as he struck down a Meta-Cold with downwards kick.

These new Meta-Colds were different if only slightly. Their punches lacked the power the original had. Their energy blasts were a fraction weaker than the ones the first Meta-Cold had unleashed. They were slower than the original however the speed differential was minor at best. The most marked difference was durability, these new Meta-Colds were not nearly as sturdy as the original. This point was hammered home as Frieza landed an axe-kick that split the Meta-Cold he was engaging down the middle before spinning around to smack away a pair of Meta-Colds with his tail.

"If I had to say it looks like these ones are fresh off the assembly line" Frieza chuckled as four more Meta-Colds pressed him back. It seemed like the best assumption, untested brand new bodies that had yet to have their nanotechnology adapt their bodies to extreme combat situations. Despite their diminished power they still made up for it with sheer numbers.

"I demand a recall!" Aayla snarled as she engaged a Meta-Cold just to have another come in from her left to attack with a sucker punch to the jaw. Knocked out of the other Meta-Cold's grip Aayla spun backwards until her feet touched the ground before taking a knee against the charred dirt. Glancing up Aayla's eyes widened as another pair of Meta-Colds charged towards her. Gritting her teeth Aayla unleashed a pair of eye beams that carved a pair of trenches through the Meta-Cold on the right. The cybernetic tyrant on the left rushed forward looking to outrace the Securan beauty's second eye beam. Luckily for Aayla she had a guardian angel watching over her, in the form of a bruised and bloodied Frost Demon.

Before the second Meta-Cold could attack Frieza dropped down from above slamming both feet into the cybernetic Frost Demon's back and driving it into the ground with a thunderous crash that shattered a good chunk of the island they had landed on. "I wonder if this voids their warranty?" Frieza mused cocking a smirk despite the pain coursing through his body.

"Probably" Aayla chuckled as she brought herself back to a standing position. Looking down at the damaged Meta-Cold that was still embedded into the hard packed ground Aayla lashed out with an angered kick leaving a sizeable dent in the once pristine chassis. "I doubt you can even get a refund on these guys, cheap bastards would probably just offer you some kind of in-store trade in" Aayla laughed despite the pain in her ribs, she could feel that at least three of them were broken. Her body was trying to prioritise the more extensive damage so more minor, or less fatal, injuries were relegated for later.

Not being fooled by her carefree appearance Frieza leaned in taking a closer look at the Securan warrior. "You can't keep this up your body's just about reached its limit" Frieza muttered placing a bracing hand on the azure beauty's shoulder.

"Pfft you're one to talk, I can see the steam coming off you. Looks like your body's cooking itself from the inside out" Aayla countered running a finger down the Frost Demon's worn out pecs.

"Ha I assure you my dear I can keep this up all day" Frieza replied with a smirk that only the frost prince could deliver.

"Don't I know it" Aayla purred with a sly smirk and a quick wink. Beaten, bloodied, bruised, cut up and standing on a ruined battlefield surrounded by an army of robotic clones of his father and Frieza still found a way to flirt with her. _Luckiest girl in the universe, right here._ Aayla thought to herself.

 _I heard that_. Frieza responded turning to quirk an eyebrow in amusement.

"Alright you two, cut the crap and get back into the fight!" Cooler roared streaking in from above wrestling a pair of Meta-Colds in each arm. The enhanced Frost Demon slammed into the ground feet first sending a shuddering shockwave throughout the terrain shaking the flirting pair from their interaction. With a small grunt Cooler hurled the Meta-Cold in his right hand into the air where it was promptly vaporized by the enhanced Frost Demon's Destructive Rays. Hoisting the second cybernetic demon in his left hand up Cooler proceeded to smash it relentlessly against the ground before finishing the damaged facsimile with a point blank Death Flash.

Straightening himself Cooler turned to face the pair, his eyes twin burning pools of crimson. Glancing back Frieza regarded his brother with an appraisal stare, Cooler seemed no worse for wear considering the circumstances. Granted his bio-armour was scuffed and scratched in a multitude of locations, he had a few rather nasty looking gashes running along his exposed skin and though his purple flesh covered them quite well Frieza could plainly see bruising settling in several places. Despite the clear injuries Cooler still walked with an air of authority whether that was due to his augmented form or simply his own arrogance was a mystery best left for another time.

"If you're done gawking at me brother I suggest you move your ass, these abominations won't just kill themselves" Cooler grunted before taking back to the skies to engage the swarming Meta-Colds. The elder frost prince grinned beneath the confines of his bone mask as he raced towards his adversaries, they were still holding back their full numbers against them, no doubt still trying to subdue rather than eliminate. So while it looked like the entire force of Meta-Colds had shown up to the battle only a portion of them were actually fighting, a foolish ploy but one that Cooler appreciated. Having to deal with a thousand murderous clones of his father simultaneously did not sound remotely enjoyable.

Ducking under a stream of energy blasts from the assembled Meta-Colds before him Cooler raced towards their center line, a murderous glint in his crimson eyes. Body checking the lead Meta-Cold backwards Cooler transitioned into a tight spin smashing one Meta-Cold back with his tail while attacking a third with brutal head kick that caved the cybernetic demon's face in on itself.

Two more Meta-Colds used this chance to lunge forward while a third pulled back and prepared an energy blast from above. The first of the charging Meta-Colds threw a volley of punches and kicks that Cooler was forced to defend against while the second dashed behind his son in a burst of enhanced speed. Cooler, who was still busy fending off the first Meta-Cold was unable to react in time to the snap kick the second Meta-Cold landed from behind. Luckily for the elder frost prince his enhanced form allowed him to withstand the attack with only a minor flinch in irritation.

Dropping his guard Cooler allowed the Meta-Cold in front of him to land a punch which caught the elder frost prince along the cheek opening a shallow cut. With his adversary now over extended from the attack Cooler burst forward grabbing the cybernetic tyrant by the face. Squeezing down on the captured doppelganger's face Cooler felt the metallic head crunch and implode under the intense pressure he was putting out before spinning around and hurling the damaged Meta-Cold into the second. With an angered growl Cooler thrust his hand forward unleashing a Death Flash that quickly turned the two to ash.

Cooler had little time to admire his handiwork however as an enormous silver energy blast slammed into him. The surprise attack caught him completely off guard and forced him into the ocean depths where he struggled to retain his composure. The searing silver blast carried him deeper and deeper into the darkened depths of New Namek's ocean, the only light to be seen was that of the Meta-Cold's energy blast and his own raging aura. Finally reaching the ocean floor Cooler braced himself against the rocky terrain and with a grunt of exertion diverted the energy attack away from him. The attack streaked into the distance obliterating several giant crab-like crustaceans in the distance.

With an angered grunt Cooler raced to the surface in a burst of incredible speed. The Mach cone that formed around his streamlined body parted the water in front of him until he exploded back into the Namekian sky. One Meta-Cold was unlucky enough to be close to the water when Cooler breached the surface, the explosive force of the frost prince's emergence sending the metallic foe spiralling away. Turning his attention to a group of over a dozen Meta-Colds, Cooler dashed forward his aura sparking with murderous intent.

Quickly forcing his way into the center of the group Cooler lashed out in a rage attacking the group who immediately swarmed at him trying to overpower him with sheer numbers. Cooler and the dozen metallic frost monarchs exchanged a furious series of punches but for every punch he delivered to one of his enemies he received four in return.

Lunging forward Cooler landed a brutal gut shot that crumpled the hardened steel that made up the Meta-Cold's abdomen but in return received a stinging snap kick to the ribs and hard overhand right to the back of the head. Ignoring the pain Cooler spun around skewering a Meta-Cold through the shoulder with his armoured tail while backhanding a second who had been within arm's reach. His counter attack was rewarded with a double axe handle from above that sent him tumbling downwards into a pair of waiting Meta-Cold's arms.

"Gotcha boy!" The Meta-Cold laughed as he locked himself around Cooler while three more of his robotic counterparts grabbed hold of various parts of the enhanced frost prince's body. The quartet quickly dropped out of the air slamming Cooler into the hardened ground. Cooler could feel that one of the Meta-Colds had locked up his tail and legs while another had most of his body secured. A third had snaked his tail around the Frost Demon's muscled neck attempting to cut off the blood flow to the prince's brain.

Glancing upwards Cooler spotted a fresh group of cybernetic Frost Demon's making their way to his position no doubt looking to assist in securing their rebellious son. "I don't think so father!" Cooler sneered his deep voice resonating with the malice he was feeling towards the cybernetic abominations. Thrusting his right hand outward Cooler managed to break through the hold one of the Meta-Cold's had him in only for it to be immediately pinned back to the ground. Try as he might to physically escape Cooler found the Meta-Colds had him tightly secured. While he didn't particularly like the idea, a Super Explosion Wave was the technique that would most likely get him out of this mess, the only downside was the amount of energy needed could be costly.

"Blaze Cannon!" A fiery eruption suddenly shrouded the entire skyscape in hellfire, the intense heat threatening to incinerate the hillside and boil the oceans. The advancing Meta-Colds, reacting far too slowly to save themselves, were promptly melted under the oppressive conflagration.

Back on the ground Cooler had to clasp his eyes shut to protect them from the heat and light of the blast, even from such a distance he could feel the heat of the familiar blast cooking his hardened skin. The sound of crunching metal and the alleviation of the pressure on his back told him that his fiery saviour had managed to knock some of the Meta-Colds from his back and so with a quick burst of Ki Cooler sprang to his feet scattering those still attempting to hold him in place.

Yanking his leg forward Cooler dragged the Meta-Cold holding onto the appendage forward before swiftly planting his enlarged foot down upon the cybernetic clone's head shattering it with ruthless intent. Out of the corner of his eye Cooler spotted another Meta-Cold lunging at him, without enough time to react Cooler braced for the coming blow only to see a green blur rush in deflecting the tyrant's attack with a quick snap kick. Touching down beside his unlikely friend Shuyo parried a second attack from the charging Meta-Cold before delivering a series of rapid short range punches that left a trail of fist sized dents in the cybernetic Frost Demon's chassis.

"Well you took your sweet time getting here!" Cooler laughed slamming a knee into a Meta-Cold before transitioning into overhead axe handle that slammed him into the ground.

"Apologies, your father's been… less than accommodating with my request to reach you" Shuyo replied grabbing the tail of the downed Meta-Cold and hurling it into the air where he promptly incinerated with a smaller but still fiery Ki blast. "Also there were other… well complications…" Shuyo trailed off ducking under a pair of metal tails and then countering with a step kick followed a forceful palm strike.

"Complications? Other than a robot army you mean?" Cooler asked incredulously, what else could have held the verdant monk back on this planet?

"Shining Inferno!" Two all too familiar voices rang out in unison as a Ki blast comprised of blinding emerald and fiery black energy slammed against a group of Meta-Colds off to Cooler's right. The explosion left the group damaged but still very much functional as they quickly picked themselves up.

"Shuyo!" Cooler barked, his voice a mix of both anger and complete shock. "You let them come with you!?" Cooler questioned as Weiss and Tyr attacked a lone Meta-Cold together doing their best to keep up with the metallic tyrant.

"They wouldn't leave…" Shuyo muttered blocking an incoming energy blast and responding with one of his own. "They were supposed to go back with Tukkan to the ship, then I realised they were tailing me, we argued for a good ten minutes and now here we are" Shuyo continued ducking under a tail strike only to be caught with straight right. Stumbling backwards and bumping against Cooler garnered the Frost Demon's attention who quickly surveyed the worn out monk. His robes were in tatters he was bleeding from several cuts and he had an ugly welt growing along the side of his cheek, clearly there was more to his story than he let on.

"In any case I'm glad you're here" Cooler chuckled, moving to intercept an energy blast that was heading straight for the stoic monk. The blast forced him back several feet almost colliding with Shuyo once more as he traded blows with three Meta-Colds. While Shuyo may not have had the raw power that Frieza and himself possessed he certainly made up for it with his technical precision.

"The sentiment is appreciated" Shuyo replied a small smirk sliding across his face he directed a Meta-Cold into Cooler's line of fire where the Frost Demon efficiently ended the metallic adversary with a Death Flash. Once Shuyo was certain of that enemy's demise he turned so he was once more back to back with the elder frost prince. "So how have you fared?" Shuyo asked unleashing another blistering Blaze Cannon that ignited everything within its path.

"Small talk in the middle of a fight? We are rubbing off on you" Cooler laughed despite taking an axe-kick to the shoulder and a Tyrant Death Beam to the thigh. He quickly responded to the attack with a vicious uppercut and a Death Beam of his own, both of which found their mark. "Also I'm glad you finally named that attack we were working on, Blaze Cannon has a nice ring to it" Cooler continued side stepping a pair of Meta-Colds and knocking a third away with a left hook, high kick combination.

Cooler's subtle attempt at dodging the question was not lost on Shuyo, this whole ordeal was not going as well as he had originally hoped. The Frost Demon's battered appearance only confirmed the monk's suspicions that despite Cooler's enhanced form he was still undergoing a great deal of strain trying to keep up with the seemingly limitless enemy.

As the pair continued to fight side by side something slammed into the ground next to them with a tremendous crash catching the pair's attention. The culprits were quick to identify as Weiss and Tyr struggling against their Meta-Cold. Tyr had his tail wrapped around the cybernetic demon's neck and was attempting to land a punch despite the Meta-Cold's flawless defense. Weiss was busy trying to remove herself from the grip of the cybernetic Frost Demon's tail which was coiled around her waist but like her Dramon friend was having limited success.

"I'm sorry but do these belong to you?" The Meta-Cold drawled punching Tyr in the gut and knocking the scaled boy to the ground in a pained heap before clasping his hand around Weiss' neck. Cooler and Shuyo quickly moved to intercede but were hampered by a fresh wave of Meta-Colds looking to impede their progress. "I guess that would be a yes" the Meta-Cold grasping Weiss chuckled before exerting a surge of pressure into his grip. Weiss' breath came out as a gasping rattle as she tried to wrestle herself from the metallic grasp of her assailant.

"Hold on Weiss I got you!" Tyr shouted shakily getting up from the ground. Several of his scales were cracked, his tail was bent at an awkward angle and he had a large gash running along his brow obscuring a good deal of his vision. Stumbling forward he reached out towards the young demoness but was brought to a halt by an enraged shout from above.

"Let her go you bastard!" The outraged screech was accompanied by a crimson crescent Ki blade that sliced through the air at an unbelievable speed before carving off the Meta-Cold's arm. Weiss dropped to the ground finally tossing away the killer appendage that had been attempting to choke the life out her. Glancing up her eyes widened as the Meta-Cold, using his remaining good arm prepared a silver energy blast in the palm of his hand. Frozen in shock, Weiss could only stare as a shining purple Death Beam pierced through the Meta-Cold's face before quickly being followed by a dozen more leaving what was left of the cybernetic demon to fall to the ground in a sparking pile of scrap.

Backing away from the ruined form of the Meta-Cold Weiss bumped into something solid bringing her to a complete halt. Sensing two energies behind her Weiss slowly turned around to come face to face with a very angry Frieza and worried Aayla. "I can explain" Weiss squeaked at the dark glare Frieza was giving her.

"No need, you decided to show up despite Shuyo and possibly Tyr insisting that you stay with the ship" Frieza drawled his tone of voice barely concealing the anger he was feeling towards the demoness' actions." We are going to have a long talk after we're through here" Frieza stated before turning around to face the Meta-Colds that had gathered before them, they just never seemed to stop.

Bending down to a knee Aayla snaked her arms around Weiss' head giving her a quick embrace. "You had him worried kiddo" Aayla whispered into the Frost Demoness' ear. With a tired grunt Aayla brought herself back to her feet taking up a position beside Frieza as Cooler and Shuyo formed up alongside them.

Still shocked by the surprise embrace Weiss stood wide eyed only being roused from her stupor with a friendly prod to the cheek from Tyr. "Look alive dolt" Tyr grinned at the flustered demoness.

"That's my line" Weiss responded crossly turning away to look at their surroundings and what she saw brought a lump of dread into her throat.

They were now completely surrounded on all sides by the Meta-Colds, who now formed a dome around the six defenders with their own bodies. The Meta-Colds had very early on tried to surround their group and attack from all sides to overwhelm them but they had only used at most a dozen at a time. As Weiss looked around at their metallic foes she counted no less than a hundred surrounding them from all sides. That was just the ones that could be plainly seen before them no doubt there were hundreds more behind the front lines just waiting for an opening to engage.

"My my isn't this an interesting sight indeed?" A Meta-Cold chortled taking a step forward, his place being immediately filled by one behind him. "If I didn't know any better it seems like you boys have formed your own little family" the cybernetic Frost Demon eyed his sons intensely. When neither Frost Demon gave a reply the Meta-Cold simply shrugged in disappointment. "Looks like we…" the Meta-Cold gestured towards the countless clones surrounding the assembly of Namek's defenders "… will have to take care of that."

Just as the assembled Meta-Colds began to rush forward en masse Frieza and the others flared their auras in unison. Taking a quick glance around Frieza realised just how badly outnumbered they were, on top of that none of them were fighting at one hundred percent anymore, most sporting several injuries and running dangerously low on power. Things were starting to look grim but the reassuring presence of the Securan at his side bolstered Frieza's resolve. So as the first of the Meta-Colds began their engagement Frieza grinned to himself win or lose this battle would be glorious.

* * *

"Nadan! Whatever you're doing you need to move your ass they're out of time!" Tukkan shouted over the shouts of the Namekians watching the battle unfold. They were now down to a single surveillance drone, the picture was almost indistinguishable, it couldn't get anywhere near the fighting without risk of being destroyed in the crossfire and Tukkan was pretty sure part of it was on fire. Despite the numerous flaws with the damaged system it was all they had left, if it went so did their view of the battle for Namek.

"I'm doing my best over here damn it!" Nadan snapped irritably as he ran through the Big Gete Star's labyrinthine network. He had managed to shut down no less than thirty eight percent of the monolith's functionality but had been met with stiff resistance at almost every turn. The damnable AI had quickly quarantined each of its systems separately after detecting the Malakan prodigy's intrusion and had spent the better part of the last hour fighting Nadan for every inch of cyberspace.

"Well can you do better than your best?!" Tukkan shouted gripping the edge of table with such force that it began to crack under the pressure.

"Why what's happening out there?" Nadan called back accepting a fresh datapad from Moori. The Namekian elder had been doing his best to assist the haggard scientist in his tireless venture to which Nadan was more than appreciative of the old Namekian.

"Cold just said to hell with it, he's sending them all in at once!" Tukkan shouted back watching as Cooler was forced to the ground by no less than a dozen separate energy blasts. "Damn it they can't handle this on their own, I'm heading out!" Tukkan shouted reaching for his knives that he had set down on a nearby monitor.

"Like hell you are!" Nadan shouted back getting up from his seat and whirling on Tukkan with fire in his eyes. "You don't stand a chance against them and you know it" Nadan pointed at the chef commandingly leaving the pair in a tense silence as the Namekians around them glanced back and forth nervously.

Breaking through the tension a sudden shrill alarm pierced the air forcing most of the gathered Namekians to clasp their hands over their ears in pain. Eyes widening at what the alarm meant Nadan rushed back to his seat hopping over the back in his haste to check on the results. Nadan's computer was quickly cycling through a stream of notifications informing the scientist of several victorious endeavours. Nadan poured over the streaming data intently hoping for some good news, any news. "Life support on decks five through five hundred shut down, that's good. Long range communications array disabled, excellent. Harvester and assembly line production reduced to point eight percent efficiency, why don't you just give up damn it?" Nadan mumbled to himself reading the through the enormous stream of information.

"Nadan is there anything that will help the others?" Moori asked worriedly. Glancing back he could see his assembled brethren half were transfixed by the battle raging before their eyes, grimacing at how poorly the fight was going. The other half were now staring at Nadan intently, waiting for some kind of news that would aid those laying their lives on the line.

Ignoring the elder Namekian, Nadan's eyes were a blur as they raced through the stream of data until he brought the screen to a sudden halt his shocked face turning into a look of pure elation. It was one of the best outcomes he could have hoped for and would help Frieza's chances immensely. Pointing to the screen with a shaky finger Nadan directed Moori to the glowing monitor too overcome with joy to say anything himself.

"Nanomachine diagnostic repair systems… disabled" Moori muttered uncertainly glancing at the positively bouncing Malakan. "Does this mean they…?" Moori trailed off unsure of what the proper words for the situation were.

"They can't heal" Nadan whispered gleefully. Leaping up from his seat Nadan stood triumphantly getting everyone on the bridge's attention. "I did it!" Nadan shouted arms in the air as everyone stared at him uncertainly. "I disabled their nanomachines, they can't put themselves back together. If Frieza smashes them they stay smashed!" Nadan cackled triumphantly before glancing back down to the screen once more and hopping back into his seat with a thump.

The mummer of approval that ran through the bridge was heartening for the weary Namekian elder, some good news was much appreciated and he could feel the general mood begin to lift if only somewhat. But Moori could still feel the steadily diminishing reserves of Frieza and his allies, save for Frieza and Cooler they were running on fumes and quickly approaching their limits. The battle was now slightly less unfair, that was all. Nadan's triumph, while substantial, did not mean certain victory it only meant that Namek's unlikely defenders had more of a chance than they did five minutes ago.

The minutes stretched by with Nadan in complete silence as he looked over the ever increasing stockpile of data. "Moori you will want to see this" Nadan called out hoarsely to the elder breaking the sagely Moori from his thoughts. Slowly Moori looked over the scientist's shoulder, unsure of what to expect the elder was floored by what was streaming on the monitor to Nadan's right.

"Is that...?" Moori muttered horrified by what the screen was showing.

"Your captured people, yes" Nadan stated sweeping his hands over his console. The view he had found was the least gruesome footage he could locate of what The Big Gete Star was doing to its captured prisoners. For a man of science like Nadan, who had dissected a variety of creatures over the course of his tenured career as the Frieza Force's chief scientific mind, gore was nothing new to him. But what The Big Gete Star had done to the captured Namekians managed to repulse even the somewhat desensitized Malakan.

The view Moori was looking at was a conveyer belt laden with captured Namekians, Meta-Cold and his Cyclopian Guards must have worked at a blistering pace as most of Namek's sparse population appeared to be crammed into these rooms, labeled biofuel extraction centers. The name alone had set Nadan's nerves on edge but the horrors he had viewed promptly trumped even his most appalling thoughts. In the room they were currently looking at, the Namekians strapped down to the conveyer belts were slowly fed into a machine where they were quickly… mulched was the only word Nadan could come up with to describe the process and it left a sickened feeling within the scientist to see his craft perverted in such a horrific manner.

Despite the macabre dungeon-like appearance of the centers they were all still linked to The Big Gete Star and so Nadan's programs had managed to infiltrate and shut down the stations saving several helpless Namekians from being forcibly converted into biofuel for the megalithic structure. With full control over the centers Nadan was quickly shutting down the conveyer belts, disabling the machines and freeing the Namekians from their restraints. Glancing back at the monitor Nadan nodded in approval at the fleeing Namekians who were piling out of the center in droves desperate to escape the deathtraps.

"They're escaping" Moori breathed in relief at his fleeing brethren. Looking down to Nadan an immense smile spread across the elder's face as he placed a hand on the scientist's tired shoulders. "Thank you my friend" Moori said with a warm smile that Nadan couldn't find in himself to return. Nadan was silently cursing himself unable to meet the elder's thankful gaze, true he had saved a good many innocent people from the horrors of the centers but Nadan knew that despite his success he still failed the Namekian people. After all saving less a quarter of those who had been taken into the Big Gete Star could hardly be considered a victory.

"You'll want to get some people to meet up with them and bring them to the ship, Tukkan will go with you to back you up" Nadan stated hollowly doing his best not to meet the elder's gaze. Pointing at a screen to his left displaying a map of the interior of The Big Gete Star, complete with flashing green dots to show the Namekians' location, Nadan displayed the path they would be taking to get back outside. "I'm directing their path, if they keep up this pace then they should be out within five minutes."

Moori nodded his understanding, however his worry for Nadan's current state kept him from leaping into action, clearly something terrible had left the Malakan in this distraught state. Placing a bracing hand on the Malakan's shoulder Moori gave him a comforting squeeze before nodding his thanks. Moori hurried over to his assembled brethren getting their attention as well as Tukkan's.

Slowly Nadan turned back to his station to recommence his own personal war with the monstrous AI that seemed to see all organic life as fuel for its own quest of galactic conquest. He could just make out the sounds of several people leaving the bridge in a hurry. The exit was about a mile south of their current location, they should be able to collect the escapees and bring them back in a relatively short amount of time. They would get there to rescue the escapees on time, unlike Nadan.

The groans of those that remained to watch the battle brought Nadan back from his guilt ridden thoughts and helped him refocus on the task at hand, ending this nightmare. If they failed here today then the same atrocities would begin once more on countless worlds throughout the universe until some other force stopped The Big Gete Star or until there was nothing left to consume. Both prospects managed to leave a sour taste in the Malakan's mouth. The problem that Nadan now faced though was that he was unsure of how to proceed. The Meta-Colds were mostly self-sufficient, running independently as well as in a pseudo hive mind. He had managed to disable their nanomachines, shut down their communications network and sever their connection to most of The Big Gete Star but that was about as much as he could do. As much as he hated it he now had to turn his attention away from the Meta-Colds and focus directly on the main network itself. With a dejected sigh Nadan ran a hand through his hair before focusing once more on the screens before him.

"I've done everything I can for you Lord Frieza the rest is up to you."

* * *

If Frieza could go the rest of his life without seeing his father's smug face ever again he could die a happy man. Unfortunately for the frost prince and the rest of Namek's defenders everywhere they looked was just a seemingly never ending parade of Meta-Colds charging towards them. The Meta-Colds had made it abundantly clear that there was no more holding back as they sent wave after wave in a tireless assault that had stretched their stamina to the brink.

Managing to duck under a tail swipe and front kick Frieza transitioned to a last minute block of a round house kick and haymaker combo. Despite the successful defense against four brutal attacks Frieza was rewarded with no less than six strikes to various parts of his body that knocked him into Shuyo who just received a vicious snap kick to the ribs. Glancing at each other both warriors combined their attacks, Shuyo's Blaze Cannon and Frieza's Death Cannon punched a hole through the cybernetic tyrants' lines, one that was quickly refilled by more of the cloned army.

Gasping for breath Shuyo tried to parry a series of strikes from a pair of Meta-Colds only to be struck to the ground by another from behind. The verdant monk considered himself to be in peak physical condition but the gamut of never ending foes was quickly eating away at his strength. Knocking a Meta-Cold to the side with a push kick Shuyo was suddenly struck in the shoulder by a Tyrant's Death Beam. The silver energy beam carved a searing hole through the monk's shoulder causing his arm to fall limply to his side. Looking up Shuyo could see several Meta-Colds preparing similar blasts all aimed straight for him.

Seeing the monk's imminent danger Frieza shoved Shuyo down and quickly fired a quick Death Beam Barrage over the monk's shoulder to keep the Meta-Colds at bay only to have three of the silver variants streak back at him. Tugging the stoic monk along with him Frieza avoided the attacks only to get caught with a teeth jarring punch and knee to the small of his back. Crying out in pain Frieza let go of Shuyo unleashing a quick barrage of Ki blasts before promptly retrieving the injured monk. The Meta-Colds struck by the blasts were promptly replaced and Frieza found himself on the retreat, being forced back by the sheer weight of their numbers.

"They're like damn vultures, they smell blood and now they won't leave him alone" Frieza hissed ducking under an emerald Ki blast from Weiss and smashing a mechanical foe to the ground with a smack of his tail. Glancing down to the injured monk Frieza hoisted him back to his feet as forced back another rush of attackers with a burst of his quickly depleting Ki reserves. "We need to get you and the kids out of here" Frieza stated blocking a dive kick and countering with a series of jabs in rapid succession.

"You're one to talk" Shuyo replied spitting out a wad of bloody saliva as he moved to avoid a rushing Meta-Cold only to be caught by a sharp jab to the temple. Before he could turn his attention to this knew assailant Frieza had already moved in, dragging the Meta-Cold away by the tail he quickly dispatched the attacker with a brutal headbutt before tossing him into a crimson Ki stream being emitted by Aayla a few yards away.

"I'll have you know I've never felt better" Frieza retorted knocking back a Meta-Cold with a shoulder check. The Frost Demon's words weren't fooling anyone, while they were all running on almost no energy it was Frieza who was actually causing himself as much damage as the cybernetic army surrounding them.

"If you say so…" Shuyo muttered refocusing on the fight at hand. That last Ki blast he performed with Frieza would have to be the last for a while, anymore and he seriously risked delving into the dwindling supply of energy keeping him conscious. As if sensing his dwindling strength the Meta-Colds pushed harder, zeroing in on the fading monk.

Dashing forward Frieza intercepted the swarming attackers only to be swatted aside with a fierce punch to the gut followed with a crisp hook to the jaw that sent the Frost Demon sprawling to the ground in a heap. Getting back to his shaky feet, Frieza traded blows with a Meta-Cold that had broken from the main group focusing on Shuyo. As Frieza took a hard hit to the nose, which burst forth in a stream of purple blood, he glimpsed Shuyo grappling hand to hand with a Meta-Cold.

The verdant monk was being forced back steadily by the unnatural strength of the cybernetic Frost Demon. Wrenching his hand free of his metallic foe's grasp Shuyo attempted a fast high kick only for it to be caught mid swing by a second Meta-Cold to his right. Lunging forward the first cybernetic demon grabbed hold of Shuyo's neck with his metallic grip. Passing a quick smug grin to Frieza as he tried to force is way to the battling pair the Meta-Cold took to the air dragging Shuyo along with him, the pair quickly vanished from sight hidden behind the swarming Meta-Colds.

"Get back here damn it!" Cooler's enraged voice rang out as he raced into the fray. Smashing through several Meta-Colds who tried to impede his pursuit Cooler was suddenly forced down by a series of energy blasts from above. Slamming into the ground Cooler quickly got back to his feet ignoring his own welted and burned flesh. The elder frost prince knew he was in the best condition of those left fighting the mechanical hoard, however that didn't account for much even with his enhanced strength the Meta-Cold's constant pressure was slowly eroding away his defences. He was getting sloppier in his attacks and more and more Meta-Colds were able to connect with their voracious attacks.

Faintly sensing Shuyo's diminishing strength beyond a wall of Meta-Colds Cooler broke into an earth shattering sprint across the scorched landscape, each step shattering the brittle ground at his feet. One Meta-Cold dove down from above trying to halt the charge of his eldest son only to have its head taken clean off with a thunderous punch from the raging Frost Demon. The now headless machine stumbled backwards while a new group of Meta-Colds stepped in to take its place.

"Will you never end!?" Cooler howled furiously headbutting a Meta-Cold to the ground and blasting another with a sizeable Ki blast. Taking a step forward Cooler was knocked back by a high kick delivered from his left. Stumbling back from the surprising blow Cooler took another shot, this time a sharp knee to the solar plexus knocking the wind out of Frost Demon. Gritting his teeth under his bone mask Cooler's tail lashed out forcing back the enemies trying to attack from behind and with lightning fast reflexes caught an incoming punch from his right. With a rabid yell the enhanced Frost Demon pulled hard on the appendage separating it from the body at the shoulder. The Meta-Cold stumbled back in utter shock, glancing from the gaping hole in his body to the now limp appendage hanging from his hulking son's hand.

"Don't look so surprised just grow a new one already" Cooler huffed crushing the severed appendage with his vice like grip. As Cooler prepared for the next assault, a curious look began to pass over the faces of the assembled Meta-Colds that caught the elder frost prince's attention. Most of them were now staring at each other with expressions of shock and… was that worry? It was hard to tell as Cooler had never seen such a look on his father's face in all his time knowing him. Glancing from left to right Cooler tried to discern the reason for the peculiar looks until his gaze fell on the Meta-Cold he had beheaded earlier. It was still flailing around aimlessly, head long gone and attempting to feel its way across the battlefield.

 _They're not repairing themselves anymore, but how? Surely it wasn't any of us that did it, you would need to disable it through… Nadan you beautiful bastard!_ Cooler laughed at the sudden realisation. While he and the others fought against The Big Gete Star's physical forces, Nadan was waging his own cyber war the whole time, one that, evidently, he won. Cooler's laughter quickly garnered the attention of the Meta-Colds surrounding him all of whom turned their crimson gaze to the cackling prince.

"What's the matter father? Afraid of a fair fight?" Cooler taunted cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"I fear nothing my boy" the Meta-Colds replied charging forward once more. Cooler was the first to attack throwing a thunderous punch that tore a gaping hole in to one of the Cold's torso before spinning around smacking two more away with his tail and ending with a push kick to a fourth. Turning to face the damaged Meta-Colds, Cooler grinned underneath his bone mask. True to his initial belief they were no longer repairing themselves at all, Nadan truly had come through.

Breaking into another sprint Cooler charged through the Meta-Colds' lines unleashing a Death Beam Barrage against any metallic foe that got too close. Bowling over a pair of Meta-Colds with his considerable size advantage Cooler reached out with his senses. He needed to spread the word in case the others hadn't figured it out yet. Blocking an incoming energy blast and redirecting it to the side Cooler finally found who he was looking for.

Aayla, Weiss and Tyr were in the worst shape of the group by far, the only reason they were still in the fight at all was because they were able to work together and constantly had each other's backs. All three of them were bruised and bloodied with Aayla sporting the worst injuries. As the Securan warrior traded blows with a Meta-Cold she had been dealing with for over five minutes she suddenly felt something wrap around her leg. Unable to react in time the metallic tail that had coiled around her ankle pulled her feet out from under her dragging her backwards and away from both Weiss and Tyr who tried to rush to her side only to be blocked by more mechanical tyrants.

Rolling to her side Aayla quickly fired off a burst of Ki blasts at her attacker. The crimson blasts found their mark impacting against the Meta-Cold dragging her towards him but to the azure beauty's dismay they had little effect on the pristine chassis of the cybernetic demon. _Shit I can't keep this up much longer!_ Aayla thought to herself in a panic.

Looking up to the smug face of the Meta-Cold lording over her brought with it a surge of murderous rage but without the strength to act on it she simply braced herself for the coming attack. Before the Meta-Cold could attack however an enlarged purple fist exploded out the front of the cybernetic Frost Demon's chest sending out a burst of sparks and metallic shrapnel.

Throwing the ruined form of the Meta-Cold to the side, Cooler quickly brought Aayla back to her feet as he fended off another attacker with his free hand. Without wasting any more time Cooler began speaking hoping the worn out Securan was able to retain and understand what he was saying. "Listen Aayla, I believe Nadan succeeded in tampering with father's little army" he stated quickly knocking back a Meta-Cold with a series of rapid jabs that left a trail of dents along its metallic chassis.

"Fantastic" Aayla gasped trying to hold back the aggressive onslaught of another Meta-Cold. After taking a series of punches that knocked her back several feet, Aayla rushed forward ducking under a swing at the last second before running her finger along the chest plate of the Cold doppelganger. Aayla's Ki blade carved a path straight through her metallic foe who fell to the ground bifurcated from shoulder to hip. Taking a moment to watch as the two halves of the Meta-Cold desperately tried to reconnect to each other Aayla grinned tiredly at the pathetic sight. "Looks like you're right" Aayla laughed focusing on the next attacker who had moved to take the place of its comrade.

"Of course I'm right" Cooler scoffed ripping the tail off a Meta-Cold and beating it down with the now severed appendage. "Can you relay that information to my brother?" Cooler asked discarding the crumpled tail with a snort of derision.

"Sure…" Aayla responded feeling somewhat miffed that she was being relegated to messenger status. Hopping out of the way of a trio of Meta-Colds Aayla made some distance between herself and her attackers needing as much concentration as she could get. _Hey hun Cooler says they can't fix themselves anymore, I think he's right._ Aayla's message had to be quick as she was soon flanked on both sides by yet more of the cybernetic demons.

 _I already know, but thanks anyways._ Somehow even Frieza's mental voice sounded strained. _How are you and the others?_ The question made Aayla realise she had left the kids on their own and so after dodging a silver energy blast Aayla turned to face where she had left both Weiss and Tyr. Luckily it seemed that Cooler had stepped in to fill her place as he was fighting side by side with the pair. Breathing a sigh of relief Aayla switched her attention back to her own fight as well as her conversation with the frost prince.

 _Kids are fine Cooler's watching them right now… probably doing a better job than I was._ Aayla's joke did not alleviate the Frost Demon's concern as he forced a Meta-Cold down with a Death Beam through the face.

 _Alright, but what about you?_ Frieza pressed, slamming that same Meta-Cold into the dirt with a vicious knee drop. Getting back to his feet Frieza lurched forward as searing pain threatened to blur his vision. His body literally could not keep going like this and so with a deep exhale Frieza was forced to let the excess energy built up within him go groaning as he felt his enlarged muscles shrink back to their original size.

 _Don't worry about me hun._ Aayla replied as Frieza struggled to steady himself against the sudden loss of both mass and power. _Look I got to focus on these assholes ok? Be safe!_ Safety wasn't exactly in the cards for Frieza as the grinning forms of his father closed in around him.

"Damn it!" Frieza huffed under his breath. He had hoped he could get more time out of the draining form but even he had to admit his body had limitations. "No it's not my body's limitations holding me back, it's this form's…" Frieza growled flexing his fingers, eyes darting left and right to the approaching Meta-Colds. In a burst of speed Frieza raced forward to engage the first of his newest targets. Right out of the gate Frieza could feel the difference in his body, while his muscles were no longer pulsing painfully he was moving far slower and as his fist first connected with his target he realised how much strength he had lost.

"What's the matter Frieza running low on power?" The Meta-Cold grinned as he retaliated with a blistering combination of punches and kicks that sent the weary Frost Demon reeling. "Strange how your brother seems to be doing just fine I wonder why that is?" The Meta-Cold continued with mock curiosity. With an angered yell Frieza charged forward only to be struck back immediately by the cybernetic menace. "Could it be that your dear brother has left you behind? That you're now only second best?" The Meta-Cold sneered as Frieza charged forward despite the fatigue in his muscles.

"I am second to no one!" Frieza howled leaping into the air to attack with a downward punch. Misjudging the angle of his approach Frieza left himself wide open to the vicious uppercut from his father that sent him flying backwards, his chin searing from the perfectly timed counter.

Time seemed to slow for Frieza as he drifted backwards as the realisation finally hit. _I have been left behind, without the augmented form I don't even compare to Cooler's strength._ The realisation crashed into him as he slammed into the ground digging a deep trench with his body. _Cooler's still fighting with all his strength and here I am lying in the dirt, beaten down by just one of these bastards._ Flashes of Cooler transforming to defeat the first Meta-Cold flashed through his mind, the unbelievable strength that crushed the opponent they had been struggling with for so long. "I need that power…" Frieza muttered still laying in the trench.

 _Pure uncontrollable rage brother, it was like a fire burning within me that would have eaten me from the inside out if I didn't unleash it. A rage, so all-consuming, that it threatens to drive you to the brink of madness. I can only pray you never have to experience such a sensation._

His brothers words resonated with him in that moment as he lay in the dirt staring up into the clouded Namekian sky Frieza tried to find that rage, tried to find something that would tip him over that edge. But the harder he looked, the more apparent it became that there wasn't anything that would suffice.

His mind first turned to the destruction of Fuar, watching helplessly as his home vanished around him in a torrent of hellfire. But the one responsible for Fuar's death was long gone, that cockroach Seluba had received his punishment and was now in the fiery pits of hell itself. And as Frieza was only now learning it was actually surprisingly difficult to hold a grudge against a dead man.

His thoughts then shifted to Goku, his nemesis, the first person to ever truly push him to his limits and the first to ever best him in combat. But anger and hatred were not what he felt towards the progenitor of the Super Saiyans. True at first there was plenty of hate that Frieza held towards the goodhearted Saiyan but time had given way to reflection. Yes there was still a score to settle with the cocksure Saiyan but there was now a begrudging respect Frieza now held towards the Saiyan and so the rage required would have to come from somewhere else.

The slow sounds of metallic footfalls caught Frieza's attention and brought with it the possibility of the most obvious candidate for the rage he needed. His father had spent his entire life subjugating him to his own will, moulding Cooler and himself into what he wanted and steering their lives into the direction he desired. On top of that here he was now actively trying to murder his crew and install both princes into The Big Gete Star to serve as morbid batteries.

Slowly getting up from his grounded position Frieza realised that the Meta-Colds before him would not suffice. He hated the machine for doing what it had to his father, he despised his father for trying to interfere in so much of his life. But the machine was simply that, a machine following its own corrupted programing and his father was still his father both doing what they thought was best.

Discarding that notion as well Frieza glanced at the sauntering forms of the Meta-Colds. _The anger needed is something spontaneous, it ignites in a flash and pushes you over the edge, but what would trigger that in me?_ For Cooler it was the simultaneous loss of those under his command and the indifference their father felt towards him, for someone who put so much stock in honor as Cooler such a situation would be emotionally devastating.

Frieza was suddenly ripped from his thoughts by an enormous explosion and a cry of pain. Looking up Frieza's eyes widened as Shuyo streaked out of a cloud of debris his skin scorched and bloodied as he slammed into a cliff with a sickening crunch. Slowly Shuyo detached from the cliff side his energy spent and his mind only barely conscious. Frieza rushed forward to get to the falling monk only to be impeded by a group of Meta-Colds who pushed him back with a flurry of punches and kicks. As Frieza defended himself against the relentless assault his eyes drifted to the falling monk hoping he could get to him in time.

Frieza would not make it though as two Meta-Colds appeared by the falling monk's side catching him by the legs and arms. Splaying Shuyo out in midair, the two cybernetic Frost Demons grinned maliciously to each other as a third appeared directly over the verdant monk's exposed back. Coming down like a rocket the third Meta-Cold slammed his metallic knee into the center of Shuyo's back with a horrendous crack. Crying out in agony Shuyo quickly passed out as the excruciating pain consumed him. Even from the distance between the monk and the Frost Demon, it was abundantly clear that Shuyo's spine had been snapped by the brutal attack.

"You bastards!" The ground shaking roar of Cooler as he raced into the air towards his injured friend was nothing short of deafening. Cooler smashed through every Meta-Cold that tried to stand in his way with Weiss just behind him trying to keep up. Try as she might the young Frost Demoness found she could not match the elder Frost Demon's blistering speed and soon found herself on her own and cut off from the others.

The Meta-Colds responsible for Shuyo's crippling injury never knew what hit them as the enraged Frost Demon raced in like a bolt of purple lightning. The cybernetic demon that had delivered the vicious knee was the first to fall, slammed into the cliff beside them with a push kick that had such force behind it that the mechanical tyrant literally came apart at the seams falling back to the ground in a loose pile of obliterated machinery and wiring.

The Meta-Cold still holding Shuyo by the legs had its upper torso melted by a brilliant Death Flash before it could even register that Cooler had arrived on the scene. And the third Meta-Cold fared no better as Cooler punched a hole straight through the shocked cyber demon's face before it could even drop Shuyo to defend itself.

Grabbing the falling monk bridal style Cooler quickly brought them both to the ground setting the severely injured Shuyo down. "Idiot, I knew something like this would happen" Cooler grunted making sure Shuyo was positioned so as to not accentuate his injury.

The verdant monk's eyes fluttered open at the sound of the gravelly voice of the elder frost prince. Immediately Shuyo tried to force himself up only to find that his body physically couldn't and that all feeling below his waist had vanished. With a shuddering cough Shuyo's eyes locked on Cooler who was standing over him protectively. "I guess… I wasn't … watching my back?" Shuyo coughed up a spray of blood that splattered against the ground staining the blue grass crimson.

"Did you just make a joke?" Cooler turned to face the wounded monk with a shocked expression underneath the bone mask that covered most of his face.

"I do make those… from time to time…" Shuyo breathed heavily doing his best to stay conscious despite the overwhelming wave of exhaustion threatening to engulf him. "Look Cooler… I'm out of this fight… go help the others…"

"They can still fight, you can't so I'm staying right here… if you disagree, feel free to get up and move me" Cooler replied hoping the monk would take the somewhat callous joke in stride. Despite his words he knew Shuyo was right, he usually was, the others desperately needed his help and it seemed like the Meta-Colds knew it as they pressed more of their forces against the now scattered remnants of New Namek's defenders while sending just enough towards Cooler to keep the enhanced Frost Demon busy.

Sensing the same dire circumstances, Frieza made his way to where he could feel Weiss' steadily diminishing energy, driving back any Meta-Cold that tried to impede his progress. After several tense minutes Frieza finally broke through the cybernetic demons' line only to see Weiss being brutally beaten back by a Meta-Cold while another prepped what looked like a silver Death Ball at the tip of his finger.

The Meta-Cold pummeling Weiss suddenly vanished leaving the young Demoness wide open to the waiting sphere of energy. Pressing forward Frieza tried to press his way through the metallic demon's barring his way to the exhausted Frost Demoness. "No damn it, not my girl!" Frieza hissed forcing back the Meta-Colds around him with a flare of his aura. Just as Frieza prepped to intercept the attack the Meta-Cold launched the sphere of destruction which streaked towards the worn out Demoness faster than she could react to it.

The Tyrant Death Ball roared towards Weiss whose eyes widened in shock, closing her guard she prepped for the coming attack as best she could. The destructive attack exploded with enough force to rattle the planet for miles around blinding all who had watched the deadly attack's flight. As the light faded Frieza was met with a billowing cloud of smoke and debris kicked up from the colossal explosion. Reaching out with his senses the Frost Demon could just barely pick up a Ki signature before it vanished completely.

As the smoke cleared around her Weiss looked around in confusion trying to figure out how she had survived the deadly attack. A gasping hack from in front of her brought her shocked gaze to bear on the still billowing smoke that seemed to wrap itself around a shrouded figure. The smoke around the figure slowly wafted away revealing the young Frost Demoness' saviour.

"Tyr!" Weiss cried out in shock. True to her exclamation the young Dramon was floating before her, his arms spread wide with that same dumb grin he usually carried with him. Staring at Tyr in disbelief Weiss began taking in his details, most of his scales had been blasted off by the attack, he was bleeding profusely from cuts running up and down his body, his tail had been completely severed a third of the way down and smoke trailed off his body, an aftereffect of blocking the Tyrant Death Ball.

"Heh… got your back… Ice Queen…" Tyr muttered before falling forward into Weiss' arms. His grin never faltering even as the light faded from the young Dramon's eyes.

"Wake up dolt" Weiss whimpered cradling her friend in her arms as she felt the last dregs of his energy leave his body and his last breath escape his bloodied lips against her chest. "Tyr… please don't go…" Weiss pleaded as she brought herself and the still Dramon to the scorched ground. She could hear the sounds of battle raging around her but she ignored them all, eyes transfixed on the motionless body of her best friend. As the wind blew through the boy's ebony hair Weiss could feel tears streaking down her cheeks smearing the dirt and grime that plastered itself against her over the course of the battle.

As she knelt on the ruined ground beside the body of her oldest and dearest friend Weiss let her normally reserved emotions loose letting her tears flow freely. _He's gone… because I wasn't strong enough on my own… he's gone… and I never got to tell him…_ Weiss' inner turmoil was interrupted by the sounds of metallic footsteps fast approaching her from behind. _They did this… they took Tyr from me…_ Weiss leapt into the air turning to face the approaching enemies that had claimed the young boy's life. Looking down at the Meta-Colds brought a searing pain into the Frost Demoness' chest as her vision flashed red.

"You'll pay!" Weiss screamed her emerald aura flaring out in a maelstrom around her forcing the Meta-Colds back with the sudden burst of energy. Just like on Bogden Weiss felt the burning energy course through her veins as her muscles grew at an incredible pace. She could feel herself growing taller and her tail lengthening as it coiled around her shuddering body. With one final cry her aura exploded around her knocking several Meta-Colds from the air once more. Her slowly opening her eyes revealed twin pools of deep crimson that gave the young girl a downright monstrous appearance.

Back on the ground Frieza looked up to the girl in the sky with a mix of shock and pride. She still hadn't achieved the full augmented transformation like Cooler but she had still managed more than Frieza himself could muster. The rare surge of pride he felt was quickly squashed as she let loose a horrid animalistic cry, a terrible mix of sorrow and rage. Holding both hands above her head she quickly formed a crackling sphere of emerald Ki that quickly quadrupled in size.

"Where the hell did she learn how to do that?" Frieza hissed as he wrestled against a group of Meta-Colds. Frieza didn't need to sense the energy coursing through the One Hundred Percent Death Ball to know that if it landed then Namek would be history.

"Let's see how you like it!" Weiss screeched as she hurled the enormous sphere of energy down into a cluster of Meta-Colds. The cybernetic Frost Demons were quick to mobilize as a group of them moved to intercept the attack. Working together several of them braced against the attack holding it back while another group prepared an energy blast to retaliate against this new threat. Not giving them a chance to counter the attack Weiss quickly fired a Shining Death Beam into the Death Ball. The sudden attack destabilized the Death Ball causing it to self-destruct vaporizing the Meta-Colds trying to hold it back and knocking those prepping the retaliatory energy blasts back with the massive pressure wave.

Streaking through the explosion in a murderous rage Weiss closed in on the nearest Meta-Colds slamming into one with all her might. The ball of emerald energy that was Weiss smashed clean through the metallic chassis of the Meta-Cold severing its torso from its legs. Spinning back around her eyes flashed dangerously as she charged headfirst into the swarming Meta-Colds that had gathered to deal with the rampaging ten year old.

With an enraged shriek Weiss attacked the gathering Meta-Colds with a flurry of strikes, punching and kicking anything that got within reach. One Meta-Cold managed to duck under one of the raging Frost Demoness' tail strikes and lashed out with a quick right cross only for Weiss to take the punch right to her chin. Ignoring the radiating pain in her face Weiss focused on her attacker smashing the cybernetic demon's face in with a well-placed punch before turning her attention to the next Cold in line.

Despite her ferocity Weiss quickly found herself losing energy at an accelerated rate as she pushed herself harder and harder against the swarming Meta-Colds. The strain her young body was going through coupled with the wear and tear she received over the course of the battle was quickly sapping her of this new enhanced strength. Despite her weary muscles and blurring vision Weiss kept attacking in a flurry fueled by her rage and grief until a Meta-Cold materialized in front of her delivering a brutal knee to her exposed abdomen.

Weiss retched as the surprise attack impacted against her coughing up a gamut of saliva, blood and bile. The enraged Frost Demoness' vision began to fade from the pain as her body reverted back to its natural state. Weiss' falling body was brought to a halt as one of the Meta-Colds caught her falling form by the tail. Hoisting the now unconscious girl up to eye level the cybernetic demon studied her intently before turning his attention back to Frieza who had been pinned to the ground by over a dozen Meta-Colds.

"So Frieza quite the interesting little brat you have here" the Meta-Cold chuckled waving the injured girl back and forth for the frost prince to see. "Would be a shame if something happened to her" the former monarch chuckled placing a hand in front of Weiss' face.

"Let her go!" Aayla shouted breaking free of the Meta-Colds she had been engaging. Using the last vestiges of her energy to form a Zeta Slash in front of her Aayla raced towards the Meta-Cold and Weiss. The barrage of crimson Ki blades streaked up to the surprised Meta-Cold who let go of Weiss to raise his guard. Most of the weakened blades missed the Meta-Cold while a few bounced harmlessly off his chassis but the attack had separated Weiss from the murderous tyrant.

Catching Weiss out of the air and touching down on the ground, Aayla's fight or flight instincts were screaming at her to flee and take the girl with her. But try as she might the Securan warrior had next to no energy left in her exhausted form. Stumbling forward Aayla lifted Weiss into a tight embrace as she made her way to what she hoped would be safer ground.

The dauntless warrior only made it a handful of feet before a silver Death Beam pierced through her calf sending the pair to the ground with Weiss tumbling away from the wounded Securan. Turning over Aayla's eyes widened as a single Meta-Cold marched towards her, finger outstretched with another Death Beam at the ready.

"You didn't actually think you could run my dear, did you?" The Meta-Cold chuckled at the prone form of the Securan warrior. "It's come full circle hasn't it my dear? When we first met you were defending those you considered your family… and you failed. Now here we are again, same scenario, same outcome… well I guess this time the people you're trying to save actually appreciate you, oh well" the frost tyrant's words cut Aayla deep as he steadily walked towards her. "Before I deal with you I think I'll take care of that precocious imp lying over there, you don't mind do you?" The Meta-Cold's chucking only grew as his finger trained itself on the still form of Weiss.

With an angered cry Aayla sprang to her feet rushing towards the Meta-Cold using her own body to obscure the tyrant's view of the still unconscious Weiss. "I won't-!" Aayla began before a second Death Beam seared a gaping hole into her shoulder. Reeling back in pain Aayla's arm hung limply at her side, the nerves, muscles and bones vaporized by the precision energy blast.

"I'm sorry my dear, you'll do what?" The Cold chuckled as he continued his advance towards the critical Securan. With a wicked grin the Meta-Cold fired Death Beam after Death Beam into Aayla who refused to fall, blocking Weiss with her own body as silver beams of energy tore through her leaving bloody trenches in her once pristine skin.

Barely a few yards away Frieza struggled against the grips of the dozen Meta-Colds that had managed to wrestle him to the ground. "Leave her alone damn it!" Frieza roared watching as the resolute Securan was slowly cut down by the merciless machine. Flaring his aura out in all directions Frieza managed to separate himself from the other Meta-Colds just enough to launch forward using his own dwindling energy he raced at top speed towards the Meta-Cold attacking Aayla only to be driven to the ground once more by the Meta-Colds but now only a few feet away from the carnage.

"I'll be with you in just a moment my boy I just need to take care of this annoyance" the Meta-Cold chuckled once more glaring at the bloodied Securan before him. "But how to finish you off… your healing factor might keep you going if I'm not thorough and I am nothing if not methodical" The Meta-Cold wondered to himself in mock contemplation. Snapping his fingers together the Meta-Cold turned to the grounded Frieza who was rabidly trying to free himself from his metallic restraints.

"Pay attention my boy, I can only do this once" Meta-Cold gloated before vanishing in a burst of super speed. Reappearing directly behind the drained Aayla, the Meta-Cold grabbed hold of her Lakee with his left hand and pulled the muscled appendage towards him. As Aayla was dragged backwards towards the Meta-Cold, the cybernetic Frost Demon's right hand streaked towards her in a blur aimed right for the center of her back.

Time slowed to a near standstill as Frieza watched in horror as his father's metal hand pierced through Aayla's back severing her spine with the initial impact. The attack didn't stop there though as the Meta-Cold's hand continued onward until it erupted from the Securan's bloodied chest in an explosion of bone and viscera. Frieza's breath hitched in his throat as his eyes focused on what was clasped in the Meta-Cold's hand, Aayla's still desperately beating heart.

"Say goodbye…" One of the Meta-Colds that had been holding Frieza down whispered into his ear. Just as the Meta-Cold's haunting words finished the one clutching Aayla's heart clasped down crushing the organ in burst of blood. Aayla's beautiful azure eyes locked with Frieza's own before they closed shut, her one good arm falling limply to her side. Tossing Aayla's lifeless form into the charred dirt as if it were trash the Meta-Cold began to walk towards Frieza his face a smug mask of self-approval.

But Frieza's eyes were still fixated on Aayla, the one true source of light that had illuminated his, otherwise, uninspired life for the last four years. Her ever present consciousness that he shared with her had been extinguished in an instant and now Frieza could only feel a vast empty void. She was gone and as the realisation finally slammed into him Frieza's vision went red and the world around him exploded.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Guess who's back?! Oh man so much to talk about now and I'm a tad rusty. First and foremost I AM SORRY. This wait was excruciatingly long and I can't apologize enough. The mix of school, work, school work and exam preparation has left me an exhausted husk of a man I've had no time over the past few weeks to work on this chapter and I knew I needed all my faculties on hand to write this daunting chapter. Luckily I'm now out of classes with only one exam left next week so I decided to get to work on this chapter, it kind of helped that I was sick so basically I just sat in bed and worked on it. But after a lot of trials and tribulation it has now been finished, I can only hope it was worth the wait.**

 **So as I said this was a daunting chapter to write for several reasons. The combination of having to have multiple Meta-Colds fighting at once mixed with balancing out all the other characters so they can have decent action scenes was mentally exhausting. I had to pour over a lot of DBZ footage just to keep the creative juices going. I will say this I now understand why they skipped this part in the movie, it would be an absolute nightmare to animate all that so I now no longer blame Toei for skipping the action.**

 **Another main plot point I wanted to focus on was Nadan, without him I couldn't really have the ending I want for this arc and so I needed to make sure his scenes were on point and fleshed out because he is pivotal for what has happened and what will happen in the coming chapters. Having more interactions with the Namekians, specifically Moori will also be vital moving forward.**

 **Another thing I had to do was somewhat power down the Meta-Colds from the original. This was primarily done to keep the power differentials realistic. If the entire army of one thousand Meta-Colds all had the originals power then Frieza and the gang would have been curb stomped almost immediately. So in the end I had to nerf their raw power and try to focus more on the numbers advantage they held.**

 **Now for the elephant in the room… I said last chapter viewer discretion is advised and I meant it, I felt like I needed to up the stakes somewhat and really hammer home that no one in this story is safe. Aayla's one of my favourite parts about this story and I'll admit doing what I did to her was actually surprisingly hard for me, but it was necessary. Dragon Ball is notorious for taking beloved characters and running them through the literary wood chipper, Vegeta, Tien, Goku, Krillin, Piccolo none of them were guaranteed to survive and so I have to treat my own characters the same way. At this point I'm sure you all see what Aayla's death has and will lead to. I felt it was the best way to trigger what's coming next as Frieza needed the raw rage that comes from the death of a loved one. I also felt like it draws a few interesting parallels with Goku and his own transformation.**

 **Tyr's death I'll be using primarily for future character development for both Weiss and Raijin but I also used it to hammer home Meta-Cold's ruthlessness, murdering a child in cold blood (no pun intended) helps illustrate the ruthlessness of both the Big Gete Star and King Cold himself. Shuyo being crippled had two functions, the first being I needed to once again emphasize that no one is safe in this universe but the second was to take Cooler somewhat out of the action. If Cooler was free to move about wherever he wanted he would have saved both Tyr and Aayla and I couldn't have that happen because, just like in Dragon Ball, death can be a necessity.**

 **And so ends the longest chapter I've ever written and I'll just say man it was an undertaking and a half. Next chapter will be Frieza dealing with the loss of Aayla and, if everything goes according to plan, the conclusion of the action portion on Namek.**

 **As always everyone thank you for your patience, hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time!**

 **I think I need to go lay down…**


	29. Chapter 29 - Losing Control

"Ooh ooh ooh eee aah aah!"

"Yes, yes Bubbles, stop monkeying around over there, I'm trying to concentrate" King Kai grimaced, ignoring his own play on words. Normally he would never pass up on an opportunity to snigger at one of his own jokes but there were far more pressing matters at hand.

"Umm boss?" The cricket sprite hovering just over Bubbles' shoulder asked tentatively, approaching the blue deity cautiously.

"What is it Gregory?" King Kai grumbled trying to shift his antenna's position to get a clearer picture of what was transpiring on New Namek.

"W-what's that I'm feeling?" Gregory stammered feeling the horrible surge of energy even from King Kai's tiny planet in The Other World.

King Kai remained silent as he felt the monstrous power emanating from the Frost Prince. The surging energy was unlike anything he had ever felt before and dwarfed the power of all those around it. The only thing more jarring than the monstrous energy being released was the seething ocean of fury and grief that now enveloped Frieza. Even from his tiny planet in The Other World, King Kai could feel the former tyrant's emotions as if he was standing right there in front of him.

"That Gregory, might very well be one of my biggest mistakes I've ever made" King Kai grimaced ignoring the cricket sprite's subsequent questions and focusing back on New Namek. When King Cold arrived on the new Namekian homeworld with his army of robotic doppelgangers King Kai had to make a daunting decision, whether or not to tell Goku.

The Namekians needed help, of that there was no question but the problem was that Goku and the other defenders of Earth had their own issues to deal with. The Androids would be arriving any day now and leaving Earth unguarded was a risk that the blue deity couldn't risk. So he kept his mouth shut and let them continue preparing for their own mechanical threat. The other reason he had kept the Saiyan out of this possible skirmish was because Frieza was already on his way to New Namek, if unknowingly. The thought of those two meeting up once more, on Namek of all places, was nothing short of disastrous.

So King Kai placed his money on the wild card that was Frieza and his crew and allowed them to proceed on their own. He had been keeping tabs on the lot of them since Frieza's crushing defeat on Old Namek. What he had observed over the years lifted his spirits, after observing the countless atrocities perpetuated by Frieza and his army in the past, this change in demeanour was a refreshing turn of events. The humbling defeat at the hands of Goku, the loss of his home planet, the betrayal of his own father and the positive influences of his crew had helped shape this new Frieza. The blue deity had placed his faith in a tyrant with one of the biggest body counts in the known universe and as the war for New Namek began he felt like he had made the right decision.

But as the battle raged on King Kai grew more and more uncertain. Frieza and the others were being worn down steadily while King Cold's forces never seemed to end. Then the battle hit a tipping point when Shuyo was crippled by the mechanical menace. With the stoic monk taken out of the action the Meta-Colds pressed the attack, emboldened by their adversary's first casualty. Soon after Tyr fell heroically giving his life to defend Weiss who then fought back as hard as she could but was quickly struck down by the ceaseless horde. It all came to a head when Aayla's life was suddenly snuffed out by a Meta-Cold, no sooner had her life force dissipated from the mortal plane than Frieza's immense power exploded out of nowhere fueled by rage and grief. Now all King Kai could do was stand around and observe as events unfolded on New Namek with bated breath.

* * *

Time seemed to slow to a glacial crawl as the Meta-Cold threw Aayla's lifeless body into the charred dirt. Her flawless body now marred with deep, bloody trenches from the cybernetic tyrant's tireless assault and her skin bruised and battered forming deep ugly bruises. But it was the gigantic hole in the Securan warrior's chest that drew Frieza's horrified gaze. The bloody chasm drenched the soil underneath the azure beauty's body staining it crimson and Frieza could only watch as the last vestiges of life finally left her body.

 _She's gone_

Those words echoed hollowly in the Frost Demon's mind. Desperately Frieza reached into the depths of his subconscious in a vain hope to find the Securan beauty, she had been with him now for years, how could she just be gone? But the harder he searched the less he found, where he had once found the comforting presence of Aayla's calming thoughts he now only found a vast emptiness, a void from which no life could possibly exist.

 _She's gone_

Those words screeched through his mind, quickly consuming all rational thought. The Frost Demon's vision blurred, replaced with a red tinted haze that distorted the world around him. His physical pain drifted away, replaced with a dull numbness that left him cold to everything around. The sounds of the battlefield faded away, the incessant taunting of the Meta-Colds became little more than static in the Frost Demon's ear.

 _She's gone_

In the Frost Demon's subconscious all he could see was a black emptiness stretching on for all eternity. The horrible isolation threatened to overwhelm Frieza's sense of self, desperately he reached out to grab hold of something, anything, he didn't care what at this point. As if in response to the Frost Prince's plight a spark in the darkness ignited blinding him for a moment and when he looked back Frieza found himself before a raging inferno. The light from the conflagration dispelled the darkness, bathing the Frost Demon in an incandescent radiance that beckoned to him. As he drew closer the numbness that overwhelmed his body was replaced with a blistering heat that urged him forward and into the flames.

 _She's gone_

The words urged the Frost Prince deeper into the flames where they began to envelop him. As he drew deeper into the inferno Frieza glimpsed the core of the conflagration, a seething mass of darkness. The shapeless mass called out to Frieza, beckoning the Frost Prince deeper into the blaze. The inferno and darkness continued to call to him, drawing the Frost Prince deeper, urging him to let go, to let them take control. As Frieza reached out a metaphysical arm towards the shadows he came to an abrupt halt. Turning back Frieza found his arm ensnared by a brilliant azure light that called him away from the darkness, it felt so familiar, promising him something the fire and darkness could never provide him with.

 _SHE'S GONE!_

The mental shout echoed through the Frost Demon's subconscious forcing the azure light away with a blast of crackling energy. For the briefest of moments the light reached out one last time to him, but it was immediately swept away by the fiery torrent. Turning back to the darkness Frieza dove headlong into the seething mass and with it came understanding. The unquenchable firestorm that roared around him was fueled by this darkness. His rage, his undeniable fury was fueled by the seething mass of grief and sorrow that he just threw himself into.

 _SHE'S GONE… AND THEY WILL ALL PAY!_

An earth shattering tremor ripped its way across the battle scarred terrain bringing every Meta-Cold to a lurching halt. Looking around for the source of the disturbance their cybernetic gaze collectively fell upon their youngest son who was still pinned to the ground by no less than six of their other selves. Taking a tentative step forward the lead frost tyrant's artificial eyes narrowed as he approached the pile of bodies. His other cybernetic counterparts were desperately trying to hold Frieza in place as his deep purple aura seeped out of his bruised ivory body.

Looking down at his hand, now soaked in the blood of the Securan, the Meta-Cold grinned sadistically at the trembling form of his youngest heir. "Come now Frieza, don't tell me that actually upset you, that wench outlived her usefulness long ago. Tell you what my boy, join me and I promise to replace her with someone even better, perhaps if we look hard enough we can even find a spare Securan laying around, I doubt I killed them all" the Meta-Cold chuckled.

Gritting his teeth at the obnoxious laughter of the metallic tyrant, Frieza's shaking only grew worse. Feeling his own power rising at an alarmingly exponential rate Frieza allowed himself to be swallowed by the surging energy, giving up control to his most basic instincts. This newfound power didn't come without cost though, as a terrible burning raked its way through his body threatening to overwhelm him. Rather than fight against the searing hot sensation he opened himself to it and let loose a blood churning howl unlike anything those present had ever heard before.

The animalistic wail was the culmination of not only the burning pain sweeping through Frieza's body, but also of the rage and grief that was overcoming all other sense of reason in the Frost Prince. The anger he felt burned brighter than a thousand suns, never before had he felt such hatred, not even towards his nemesis Goku. Grief was not a new sensation for the Frost Demon either, but it was one that he hadn't felt since the day one of his attendants brought with them the news of his mother's untimely death. Not his father, the man who had sworn to be by her side till death do them part, a servant, one that had been ordered to deliver the universe shattering news to him as a boy.

As Frieza's vocal cords stretched themselves to their limit an intense shockwave of pure energy exploded from the Frost Demon's body. So sudden was the blast that the Meta-Colds holding Frieza down were thrown violently from him leaving the Frost Prince free to get back to his trembling feet. The discarded Meta-Colds were slow to get back to their own feet but one had decided it was best to rush Frieza now and end this threat before it got out of hand. Dashing forward the cybernetic Frost Demon charged Frieza from behind looking to take advantage of his son's distraught state.

The Meta-Cold barely made it halfway to his target before a bolt of blinding purple energy arced from the screaming Frost Prince. The bolt of pure energy moved faster than the mechanical tyrant could react and carved a burning trench through the cybernetic facsimile's shining body. Two charred halves of the attacking Meta-Cold crumpled to the ground leaving the others to take a shocked step back.

Throwing his head back Frieza screamed to the heavens, his power still surging higher and higher. Frieza's eyes flashed dangerously becoming twin pools of crimson and his muscles began to bulge threateningly. Dark clouds were rolling in from all directions while the ocean waters began to recede, retreating from the mainland as if terrified at what was coming. The storm clouds blanketed the land around the combatants in darkness blotting out New Namek's suns as they converged on Frieza's position.

"Don't just stand there! Kill him!" The Meta-Cold, whose arm was still drenched in Aayla's blood, snarled waving the rest of his cybernetic brethren forward. Charging in unison the Meta-Colds were brought to a crashing halt by a wall of blistering purple Ki that had now encased Frieza on all sides. Try as they might the Meta-Colds could do little to damage the barrier which held firm even under the strain of the multitude of attackers. Energy blasts only seemed to be absorbed by the swirling maelstrom and anyone foolish enough to actually hit the dome were thrown back by the surging power pouring from the barrier.

From the darkened clouds above the battlefield, a bolt of lightning arced from the sky striking the mass of purple Ki in a blinding flash of light. Acting like a living lightning rod, Frieza became the focal point for the electrical storm now raging above the battlefield with even the smallest bolts being drawn to the solitary Frost Demon. As more and more bolts struck the barrier surrounding Frieza the ground around him became steadily more destabilized. Massive chunks of rocket and dirt were being hurled into the air by the Frost Prince's swelling energy and the ground began to tremble violently as if being rent apart by a powerful earthquake.

"Focus fire now!" One Meta-Cold snarled charging a Full Powered Energy Wave in the palms of his hands. The other cybernetic tyrants around him quickly followed suit, charging their attacks as one. With a conjoined yell the gathered doppelgangers unleashed their unified energy blast towards the still screaming Frost Demon. The blast impacted against the purple barrier in a stunning burst of light but instead of exploding outwards or forcing Frieza back, the energy began to arc around the Frost Prince caught by the gravitational well until it was consumed by the swirling mass of purple Ki.

"That's impossible!" The lead Meta-Cold gasped in utter disbelief, there was no way Frieza was that powerful, not after fighting all day long! As if in response to his father's incredulity Frieza began to rise into the air, lightning still streaking down to meet him. Rising nearly twenty feet into the air Frieza could feel the all-encompassing energy surrounding and surging through him, threatening to overwhelm his senses.

With one final arcing bolt of lightning Frieza's pained scream reached a crescendo before fading away into an uneasy silence. For several tense seconds there was no movement save for the swirling energy around the Frost Prince. Then just as quickly as it had appeared the swirling maelstrom of purple Ki surrounding Frieza vanished, being drawn into the former tyrant leaving those present questioning what would come next.

"Die!" The single word came out as a primal scream as all the stored energy within Frieza's battered body exploded outwards in a cataclysmic explosion of uncontrolled energy. Those Meta-Colds unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast were vaporized almost instantly while those farther away were violently thrown by the sheer force of the pressure wave.

Reappearing in a burst of enhanced speed Cooler materialized in front of Shuyo dropping to one knee in pain, his body still smoking from being so close to the colossal blast. "Idiot!" Cooler hissed in annoyance as he set the two bodies he had been carrying down beside Shuyo. Glancing back to the thick cloud of dirt and smoke kicked up by the explosion Cooler's face soured under his bone mask. Just prior to the colossal blast Cooler had raced forward, temporarily leaving Shuyo alone, to go and retrieve Weiss and Aayla's body. It was good that he did as Frieza's explosion had obliterated the small peninsula they had been battling on and there was no way an unconscious Weiss would have survived the blast.

"Cooler, do you feel that?" The normally stoic monk gasped, whether do to the intense energy being released or his own pain Cooler was left uncertain. But he sure as hell felt his brother's power, it was incredible and Cooler knew for a fact that Frieza had achieved the transformation despite his form still being concealed by the swirling debris.

Glancing down at the battered body of the Securan at his feet Cooler felt a rare sense of pity towards his father. "You've brought this on yourself you old fool" Cooler muttered with a shake of his head.

"Cooler… Something's not right!" Shuyo hissed as he tried to sit himself up. Despite the Frost Demon's insistence, the stoic monk still attempted to move despite his shattered spinal column. Placing a steadying hand on the monk's chest Cooler pressed Shuyo down, doing his best to keep from aggravating the man's injury any more than it already had.

"What's wrong?" Cooler questioned his crimson eyes seemingly boring holes into the monk's very soul.

"Frieza… something about him… his mind… it's… damn it he's not in control!" Shuyo gasped before Cooler pressed a hand over the monk's mouth to silence him, clearly speaking was doing the monk no favours either.

As if in response to the monk's statement an animalistic shout echoed from the debris field catching the remaining combatant's attention. The swirling debris was suddenly blown away in all directions showering the landscape with rock and dirt for miles. Looking upwards to the source of the scream, the collective eyes of all those gathered widened as Frieza descended to the battlefield.

Electricity arced dangerously from Frieza's body as he descended, fueled by the darkened skies above, and carved deep trenches into the already battered landscape. His body had already undergone a significant change, he now stood over a foot taller than before, now on par with his third form's height. His once slim figure had now been replaced with one of pure chiseled muscle, sporting a six pack that would make even the most seasoned fighter envious.

His pure crimson eyes swept across the battlefield taking in carnage with an unnerving silence. No one dared make a move until one foolish Meta-Cold took a tentative step forward. In response to the miniscule movement Frieza let loose an animalistic shout and pressure wave that drove those around him back with the sheer strength behind it. As Frieza roared at the top of his lungs his body quickly began shifting before the assembled force's very eyes. His bio-armour around his arms expanded outwards and formed a vicious looking spike reaching to his elbow. The bio-gems on his shoulders thickened forming a pair of armour-like pauldrons. Along his back a pair of spikes jutted out of the Frost Demon's back, each almost a foot and half long and with a slight curve downwards. Finally with one last snarl a bone mask, similar to Cooler's own, slid over Frieza's mouth deepening the enraged Frost Demon's rabid snarl.

As the assembled force of Meta-Colds picked themselves off the ground, Cooler looked on in utter disbelief. The power his brother was giving off was nothing short of astonishing. The elder of the brothers knew from personal experience that the first transformation was always the most potent but the power his brother was releasing was completely unexpected. Sparing a quick glance to Shuyo, Cooler saw the same look of disbelief at what he was sensing from Frieza. _Typical, Frieza always did have the edge in the genetic lottery, I really shouldn't be surprised,_ Cooler's semi-bitter thoughts didn't last long though as the he watched the Meta-Colds charge Frieza in unison.

As the oncoming Meta-Colds closed in on Frieza, the newly transformed Frost Prince let loose an enraged snarl and vanished in a burst of super speed. Caught off guard by the sudden disappearance the Meta-Colds came to a halt raising their guards for the coming counter attack. Appearing just behind one of the lead Meta-Colds, Frieza lashed out with a vicious haymaker slamming the metal tyrant to the ground and leaving a massive dent in his otherwise pristine chassis. Face contorted in utter rage Frieza reached down securing the cybernetic demon by his tail and throat and with an angered snarl tore the Meta-Cold in two.

Only now realising one of their own had been bifurcated the Meta-Colds converged encircling the transformed Frost Prince. Charging in unison the Meta-Colds looked to overwhelm Frieza with their sheer numbers alone. Frieza however was far faster than they had expected, leaping into the air the Frost Prince hurled the upper torso of the dismembered Meta-Cold into the group slamming it into several unprepared mechanical foes. Charging back down with the bottom half of the Meta-Cold still in hand Frieza slammed the body part down knocking several Meta-Colds aside with the force of the impact alone. Spinning around Frieza lashed out with the bottom half using it as a makeshift club and beating back any Meta-Cold that got to close.

"Back away and fire on him!" One Meta-Cold shouted to the others who responded immediately. Leaping back to gain some distance from their rampaging son, the Meta-Colds unleashed a barrage of Tyrant Death Beams and other various energy blasts. Frieza's rampaging form vanished in the colossal explosion kicked up by the wall of energy blasts and for a moment the Meta-Colds thought they may have actually subdued their furious son.

Nothing could be farther from the truth however, as Frieza charged through the explosion, purple Ki swirling around him in a violent maelstrom. Closing in faster than the cybernetic demons could react to, Frieza unleashed a devastating Ki blast of his own from his left hand while his right grabbed a Meta-Cold by the face. The Ki blast raced towards the metal horde who only barely managed to evade the attack, the explosion generated by the blast was still powerful enough to obliterate most of an island in the distance.

Focusing on the Meta-Cold in his grasp, Frieza began squeezing down on the metallic facsimile's head watching with detached pleasure as the Meta-Cold's cranium began to buckle under the strain. Lashing out desperately the Meta-Cold landed a solid punch to the side of his son's head, but much to the metal tyrant's dismay it barely seemed to register with the Frost Prince who only increased the pressure on his head as a result. The sound of rending metal echoed across the battlefield as Frieza crushed the Meta-Cold's head in the palm of his hand. Slamming his fist into the metallic tyrant's gut he pulled back with his right hand tearing what remained of the Meta-Cold's head and most of his cybernetic spinal column from his body.

Discarding the tattered remains Frieza turned to face the stunned collection of Meta-Colds. The silence that followed was nothing short of unsettling even to Cooler who stood guard off to the side. Frieza was not one to stay quiet during a fight, certainly not in one as one sided as this one appeared to be. "Frieza should be laughing, taunting them into attacking him, we shouldn't be able to shut him up but he hasn't said a damn word since he transformed" Cooler muttered keeping his eye locked on his brother.

"I told you Cooler… he's …" Shuyo's pained explanation was cut off by a savage scream that echoed across the battlefield. Frieza lunged forward buckling the ground at his feet as he raced to engage the Meta-Colds who had been trying to regroup. "… Not in control anymore" Shuyo mumbled wincing at the seething hate emanating from the Frost Demon.

Shouting like a man possessed Frieza sprinted towards the gathered horde, each footstep buckling the ground with the overwhelming force the Frost Prince was unleashing. Attacking with a fury few could match Frieza tore into the cybernetic legion with reckless abandon. While the Meta-Colds originally could rely on their superior numbers and regenerative capabilities to defeat any adversary they were now left in a predicament they had not foreseen. With their regeneration stripped away by Nadan and their numbers dwindling by the minute the Meta-Colds were now faced with the very real possibility of defeat.

Meta-Colds lunged forward to engage the raging Frost Prince while others pulled back to lend long range fire to try and suppress Frieza's movements. Their splinter attack would have been effective in most other scenarios but Frieza was having none of it. Frieza dove headfirst into the ensuing melee shouting all the while. Slamming a Meta-Cold to the ground with a vicious axe handle he then lashed out with his muscular tail forcing a trio of Meta-Colds back. While his back was turned one Meta-Cold snuck in a surprise punch that caught Frieza just under the jaw. Spinning around Frieza countered the attack with a grizzly push kick that caved in the cybernetic demon's chest as if it were made of cardboard. Any time a Meta-Cold got to close to him Frieza would rebuke their advance with a violent counter that left the cybernetic attacker struggling to right themselves.

The long range forces of The Big Gete Star fared no better, trying to pin down their wayward son with energy blasts was proving to be a herculean task. His enhanced speed and erratic movement made connecting with a blast damn near impossible. Even when they did manage to land a lucky shot Frieza merely shrugged off the blow or in some cases acted as if he didn't even feel it, in his current state it was a very real possibility.

Gritting his metal teeth at the deteriorating situation displayed before him the lead Meta-Cold, whose hand was still soaked in Aayla's blood, called for their long range forces to regroup. "Listen up!" The Meta-Cold snarled ensuring their short range communications were still functioning, he thanked The Big Gete Star that they were. "We're going to put Frieza down with one attack! But we will need you to hold him in one place so we can prepare the attack so get to it!" The lead Meta-Cold's announcement was met with immediate agreement as the dwindling forces of Meta-Colds lunged at Frieza.

Raising his finger into the air the Meta-Cold began channeling energy at the tip into a glowing silver ball of pure energy. Without saying a word the other Meta-Colds around him began placing their hands on the lead's chassis. One by one the metal clones fell away, the lights leaving their eyes as the orb of crackling energy expanded exponentially. _The needs of The Big Gete Star outweigh the needs of the many,_ the lead Meta-Cold thought, keeping his focus trained on the swelling energy at the tip of his finger.

Glancing down at the ensuing melee, the cybernetic tyrant's artificial lips pulled back in distaste as Frieza tore a devastating path through his forces. Gone was Frieza's elegant and almost laid back fighting style that focused on devastating precision. The Frost Prince before him now fought like a wild animal attacking anything that got within arm's reach viciously. _Hold him you fools!_ The lead Meta-Cold snarled over their short wave communications.

While Frieza dispatched a pair of Meta-Colds with a thunderous kick followed by an intense Ki blast, one managed to close in from behind snaking his arms underneath Frieza's own. Securing the full nelson hold by impaling himself on Frieza's newly formed back spikes, the cybernetic tyrant chuckled sickeningly as he watched his enraged son snarl like a trapped beast. Two more Meta-Colds quickly secured an arm each, pulling Frieza's arms to either side the Meta-Colds were doing their best to hold their son in place buying the lead Meta-Cold the time he required to unleash the full power of his Tyrant's Supernova.

Not giving them the chance Frieza brought his arms together with a grunt of exertion slamming the pair of cybernetic demons against one another with a shrill crash of metal on metal. Before either could right themselves Frieza's eyes flashed dangerously and unleashed a blinding eye blast that engulfed the pair of stunned clones. As the violent purple eye beams faded away all that remained of the two combatants was a few charred cinders that were quickly blown away by the ever increasing storm raging across the battlefield.

Quickly shifting his attention from the now vaporized foes to the one clinging desperately to his back Frieza snaked his muscular tail around one of the Meta-Cold's ankles and with a powerful tug ripped the appendage completely from the cybernetic clone's body. Ignoring the missing limb the Meta-Cold held on tighter, waiting for the lead Meta-Cold to finalise the attack, he just needed to hold out for another few moments.

But a few moments was not what the raging demon planned to allow him. With another animalistic shout Frieza dropped from the sky at a blinding speed, leaning backwards so that his back was parallel to the ground Frieza slammed into the dirt with a meteoric crash leaving an absurdly large crater with himself and the shattered remains of the Meta-Cold at the center. Wrenching the remains of the Meta-Cold from his back with his tail Frieza snarled angrily stomping his foot down over and over as he looked to pummel whatever was left of the metallic tyrant that had tried to restrain him.

"Look out idiot!" A familiar shout echoed across the landscape that caught Frieza's attention, his rage addled mind barely registering it as his brother's. Suddenly Frieza's instincts were set on high alert as a blinding light illuminated the storm choked sky. Snapping his attention upwards Frieza growled at the colossal sphere of energy fast approaching. Without missing a beat Frieza charged straight at the planet bursting attack scattering the Meta-Colds that had come to secure him while the attack approached.

"No you idiot don't fly right at it!" Cooler shouted at the reckless Frost Prince as he raced towards the world ending attack. Frieza's deep purple Ki swirled around him as he closed in on the Tyrant's Supernova transforming him into an impossibly fast comet as he slammed into the oncoming attack. For a few seconds neither Frieza nor the attack would budge an inch both trying to overwhelm the other through sheer tenacity. With a vicious shout Frieza forced even more power into his charge and slowly began gaining ground on the attack pushing it back to its sender.

"Oh I don't think so!" The Meta-Cold exclaimed firing a Death Beam into the center of the Supernova. On Earth he had been defeated by his own attack being pushed back into him, he had no intention of repeating the process on this backwater mud ball they called a planet. The silvery Death Beam pierced the Supernova and in the blink of an eye the sphere transformed from blinding silver to fiery orange and exploded with an ungodly amount of force, all centered on the Frost Prince who had been shoving it back.

"Shit!" Cooler hissed as he tried to locate his brother's Ki signature. With all the energy being thrown around it was proving to be far more difficult than he would have liked.

"He's still up there" Shuyo muttered from beside Weiss' unconscious form. When noticing Cooler's uncertain expression he gave a soft tilt of his head upwards to confirm with the older Frost Prince. "I can still feel his emotions he's up there and…" Shuyo was once more cut off by terrible cry of hatred. "He's pissed as hell…" Shuyo grimaced, being mentally assaulted by the toxic emotions flowing from Frieza.

Exploding out of the smoke and debris Frieza tore through the sky, his unwavering gaze locked on the Meta-Cold that had attacked him, the one that had taken _her_ , the one that still had _her_ blood caking his arm. Caught off guard by the savage look in his son's eyes the lead Meta-Cold tried to prepare another attack only to get cut off with a vicious head-butt that smashed the tyrant's artificial nose to pieces. Stunned by the surprise attack the Meta-Cold couldn't react in time to avoid Frieza's grasp. The enraged Frost Prince's hand struck out grabbing the Meta-Cold by the throat.

"How?" The Meta-Cold managed to gasp despite the death grip. That attack should have had enough power to destroy a planet over thirty times over and Frieza just flew right through it! Not that Frieza had emerged unscathed, his otherwise flawless white skin was singed and burned from the heat of the blast and he now sported a fine layer of dirt, sweat and grime from the battle. However those were all superficial wounds, for the most part Frieza looked no worse for wear despite the horrendous amounts of damage he had been taking all day.

Increasing the pressure on his captured prey's neck Frieza could feel the metal buckling under the intense strain. Swinging in desperation the Meta-Cold threw a quick right hook with his blood soaked hand to try and pry Frieza's hand from his throat. The cybernetic tyrant's hand only made it halfway before it was caught by his son's muscular tail. Staring at the bloodied appendage in his tail's grasp for what felt like an eternity Frieza's face suddenly contorted in fury and with a savage yell Frieza pulled his tail back.

The bloodied appendage was ripped from the Meta-Cold's torso with the sickening sound of shredding metal. Shouting in surprise the Meta-Cold was quickly silenced with another vicious head-butt, this one caving in most of the tyrant's metal skull. Frieza followed the blow by hurling the Meta-Cold into the air and unleashing a Death Beam Barrage at the falling target. Lacking his normal levels of self-control many of the Death Beams went wide missing their mark but the sheer volume of Ki beams made up for any inadequacies in accuracy. The veritable storm of Death Beams shredded much of what was left of the cybernetic frost demon.

Frieza's rage fueled gaze tracked his fallen prey until its tattered remains crashed into the dirt. Breathing heavily, not from exertion but from the overwhelming emotions swirling within him, Frieza slowly lifted a single finger into the air. In the blink of an eye an immense ball of crackling purple Ki formed at the tip of the Frost Prince's finger. With another animalistic yell Frieza hurled the crackling Death Ball straight down, a savage glint in his eyes as the planet bursting attack raced down.

"Cooler!" Shuyo gasped in shock, feeling the intensity of this latest attack.

"I know I know, I'm on it!" Cooler gritted his teeth as he took off from the ground kicking up dirt and debris with the force of his take off. _That damn idiot's going to get us all killed at this rate!_ Cooler cursed as he aligned his flight path to intercept the incoming planet buster. Out of the corner of his eye the elder Frost Prince could just make out the approaching silver forms of several Meta-Colds and prepped himself for whatever they had planned.

But much to the Frost Demon's surprise the Meta-Colds simply formed up alongside their eldest son racing straight towards the impending Death Ball. Without saying a word to the others, simply exchanging a quick head tilt, the gathered Frost Demons, both real and artificial, collided with the impending Death Ball in a brilliant flash of colliding Ki. Several Meta-Colds were swallowed by the blast almost immediately, vanishing in the crackling energy with a startled gasp at the raw power being released. The rest closed ranks using their superior numbers to focus their defences so as to hold back the attack. Cooler himself pressed against the planet bursting attack using his own rage fueled strength to combat that of his brother's. However much too Cooler's dismay he found that he was still being driven back by the cataclysmic attack.

Sparing a glance at his temporary cybernetic allies Cooler felt a twinge of annoyance at how they were still being forced back. _Over ten of us repelling this damn thing and we're still being driven back!_ Cooler hissed at the thought of his own brother overwhelming him so easily with a single attack. There was a sudden lurch as four of the Meta-Colds' bodies gave out on them, being swallowed by the Death Ball and allowing it to press forward several feet forcing Cooler to grit his teeth under his bone mask.

"Father! Get your asses over here now!" Cooler shouted over the deafening roar of the Death Ball. _Two birds with one stone_ , Cooler chuckled darkly as fresh Meta-Colds cycled in to relieve the strain on the others. "Have to work fast" Cooler muttered as he broke away from the sphere of deadly Ki. Planting his feet firmly on the blackened ground Cooler lifted his own finger into the air, at its tip formed an enormous sphere of brilliant orange Ki that quickly surpassed Frieza's own attack in size. Grunting in exertion Cooler hurled his Supernova upwards, straight towards the Death Ball and assembled Meta-Colds still trying to hold it back.

Cooler watched with grim satisfaction as his own attack collided with Frieza's incinerating the Meta-Colds caught in the middle. _It's not like I wasn't going to destroy them anyways_ , Cooler chuckled as the two spheres of pure destructive energy fought against one another. To Cooler's chagrin his own attack was steadily losing ground to Frieza's own more potent sphere. "Always have to one up me, don't you, you little shit?" Cooler scoffed leveling his hand with the battling planet busters. Channelling a quick Death Flash Cooler fired it into his own Supernova watching with satisfaction as the attack changed from brilliant orange to deep scarlet.

The look of satisfaction didn't last long though as Cooler realised just how much power was about to be unleashed by the conjoined blasts. "Oh shi-" Cooler was cut short by the Supernova's violent detonation, the blast caused a sudden chain reaction and forced the Death Ball to self-destruct along with it with world shattering force. Cooler had to cover his own eyes as the intense flash threatened to blind him leaving him unprepared for the overwhelming pressure wave that blasted him backwards. As he was propelled through the air by the conjoined blasts Cooler could vaguely feel the hellish surge of heat generated by the attacks. _In hindsight maybe I could have planned that better_ , Cooler thought before being slammed into a plateau that crumbled under the eldest Frost Prince's impact.

Even buried underneath mounds of ruble Cooler could still make out the vague muffled sounds of battle and raging storm that only seemed to be getting worse by the minute. Thrusting a worn fist upwards Cooler smashed his way out of the rocky debris taking a moment to look around at the carnage that his attempt to save Namek had wrought. Almost a mile away was an enormous chasm that was no doubt generated from the explosion. The black pit stretched for as far as the eye could see and as Cooler urged his tired body into the air his eyes widened at just how massive it actually was. Cooler may not have had quite the same planetary kill count as his brother but one glance told him that New Namek was about to be added to both of their respective lists.

Detonating the blasts so close to the planet's surface had been a colossal mistake. The newly formed chasm stretched down for miles, whatever bits of Namek's crust that weren't obliterated in the blast had been hurled into the blackened sky, thickening the already turbulent storm clouds. Looking straight down into the abyss Cooler could see a faint red glow emanating from the blackness that made the Frost Demon utter a series of colourful curses he had picked up over the years. "Blasted all the way down into the mantle" Cooler groaned to himself. Their mission was to win the Namekian's trust so they could use the Dragon Balls and they just went ahead and blew up their planet… again!

Taking note of the Meta-Colds still battling Frieza, Cooler took off in the opposite direction to locate Shuyo and the others. None of them were in any condition to continue fighting much less when the planet could collapse on itself at any moment. "Why must you make everything so god damn difficult brother" Cooler cursed as he raced across the darkening landscape.

* * *

"Nadan what the hell's going on?!" Tukkan shouted as he picked himself off the ground. The Konatsian chef, along with everyone else aboard The Nemesis, had been hurled off their feet when the intense pressure wave threatened to blow away the warship. Lucky Nadan's sensors had picked up on the incoming blast which triggered the gravity tethers securing the ship as the force of the blast slammed against the shields.

The Malakan scientist ignored his friend as he brought himself back to his feet. _I don't even show up to the fights and I'm still in pain,_ Nadan grumbled as he staggered towards the ships sensor's all of which were flashing warnings and alerts. Ignoring the pained groans of the Namekians around him Nadan's eyes widened as he poured over more and more information. "No… No, no, no, no, no ARGH! It's always something!" Nadan exclaimed slamming his fist down on a console breaking the glass of one of the screens in the process.

Feeling a reassuring hand grasp his left shoulder Nadan looked back to see a concerned Moori glancing from him to the still flashing, red screens. Taking a calming breath that did little more than waste a few precious seconds Nadan locked eyes with Moori before explaining to him and the rest of those gathered on the bridge the dire situation.

"Whatever that blast was it appears to have taken a fairly large chunk of Namek's crust along with it. The force of the blast mixed with the sudden change in planetary mass, along with all the energy being thrown around has destabilized the planet's magnetic field… which is degrading as we speak" the looks of worry on the gathered Namekians' faces only grew as Nadan pressed on but they had a right to know, it was their planet after all. "Seismic readings planet wide are a nightmare, displaying increasing levels of instability, planetary rotation has been slowed by point eight percent and to top it all off it appears as if the force of the blast has knocked Namek from its gravitational axis" Nadan concluded watching grimly as the realisation began to dawn on those gathered around him.

The bridge was absolutely silent as the people of Namek took in the Malakan's grim tidings until a hellacious laugh from the back of the bridge caught everyone's attention. All eyes turned to Tukkan as he doubled over in fits of giggles though there was none of the usual mirth in the dynamic chef's eyes. "So… so you're telling me Frieza just went ahead and screwed this planet… again?" Tukkan asked in between breaths as he tried and failed to compose himself.

"It appears that way" Nadan responded stiffly glaring daggers at the chef for the slight against their lord.

"Fantastic! I think we were better off with the robots before you guys showed up!" One Namekian yelled angrily getting several nods of agreement from his brothers around him. Frowning Moori turned to face the young man who had spoken out against the scientist. However before the Namekian elder could speak to the man another of his brothers spoke up getting everyone's attention again.

"How much do you want to bet that they've been planning this from the beginning to get us and the Dragon Balls all in one go?" The skinnier Namekian asked getting several nods from those around him. "Those robots are supposed to be Frieza's father right? So you've just been playing us this whole time!" The man accused his face contorting into one of pure rage.

Before Moori could move to pacify the growing mob of misplaced rage he felt something bump into his leg and just barely saw the sweep of a white lab coat as Nadan marched towards the outspoken Namekian who didn't notice his approach until the short scientist was right in front of him. With surprising agility for one who was admittedly not the most physically active, Nadan leapt upwards grabbing the young Namek by the scarf and dragged him to the ground to face the scientist face to face.

"Listen here you little shit, we've done nothing but try and save your ungrateful ass since we got here!" Nadan hissed tightening his grip on the shocked man's collar. "Some of my closest friends are dead now because of those bastards and you dare accuse us of cavorting with them!?" Nadan's piercing gaze looked as though it was staring straight into the young Namek's soul. "I saved your people from being turned into green paste to fuel that damn station and you think it's all part of some master scheme?! Get. The. Hell. Off. My. Bridge!" Nadan punctuated each word with a violent shake before throwing the Namekian down with astonishing force that surprised even Tukkan who had been watching the entire altercation with bated breath.

Not waiting to watch the young man leave the bridge Nadan turned his attention back to the planet's readings which only seemed to grow worse by the second. The bridge had fallen into an uneasy silence at the Malakan's outburst even those who looked so vehemently against Frieza and his crew's assistance were quiet, allowing the scientist to work in relative peace until a familiar presence landed deftly beside him. Barely registering the golden plumage until it was pressing against his face Nadan cocked a surprised eyebrow at the level of affection Yang was showing him, the golden bird usually only reserved such displays for Weiss.

"I know, I'm worried about them to" Nadan sighed running his hand along the large bird's back. The peaceful moment didn't last long as a thunderous tremor rocked The Nemesis setting off a series of fresh alerts, most of which were geological. "Damn it!" Nadan cursed as more information poured in. There was nothing he could do to stop what was happening to the planet he could just watch as New Namek slowly tore itself apart.

"Hey man" an uncharacteristically solemn Tukkan muttered taking a spot on the scientist's left.

Breaking his gaze away from the various screens Nadan looked up to the Konatsian chef with an equally stark expression. "Sorry for snapping earlier" Nadan replied tapping his finger against the console knowing every second that passed was one closer to Namek's inevitable destruction.

"Hey it's cool man I get it, there anything you need me to take care of for you, anyway we can fix this?" Tukkan asked leaning forward so his head was leveled with the scientist's.

"No, the planet's days… hours are numbered" Nadan sighed staring blankly at the seismic readings. "We've already gathered as many of the captured Namekians as we could save so everyone's… safe… damn it I've been so stupid!" Nadan cursed angrily turning his full attention back to Tukkan a look of genuine worry in his dark brown eyes. "We need to evacuate the planet immediately but Shuyo and the others are still on the battlefield they need to get back to the ship!" Nadan stated going over the ship's scanners.

"I can take care of that" Tukkan assured placing a bracing hand on his friends shoulder. "I'll need some help though…" Tukkan muttered softly, even from this range he could feel that neither Shuyo nor Weiss were capable of moving and Tyr and Aayla… well Tukkan only had so many arms he couldn't carry everyone.

"I can help" a familiar voice said from behind the pair. Turning in unison both Nadan and Tukkan were faced with the outspoken Namekian youth who had originally been so against his people even boarding the Nemesis. The boy's arms were crossed stiffly over his chest and he certainly looked uncertain but he didn't change his mind as Tukkan gave a swift nod of approval.

"You're hired kid, c'mon" Tukkan chuckled as he broke into a sprint down the corridors towards the exit with the Namekian youth hot on his tail. "So what's your name?" Tukkan asked rounding a corner and passing by the dining area where several Namekian's were in a deep conversation.

"Mollus" the youth replied curtly making sure to stay close to the chef.

"Hey yeah, Nad told me a bit about you, said you were being 'troublesome' and didn't trust us" Tukkan chuckled softly. Hanging his head down Mollus muttered something that the chef couldn't quite make out especially not while they were making their way through The Nemesis' corridors. "Sorry what was that?" Tukkan asked uncertain of what the Namekian youth had said.

"I said I'm sorry" the kid blurted out earning a frown from the confused chef as they entered the hangar bay.

"Sorry for what?" Tukkan asked unsure of what the Namekian could be apologizing for.

"I was one of the first to deride the idea of joining forces with you and your crew, I feel as if most of the distrust right now is because of what I said earlier to your friend" Mollus replied lowly, sidling up beside Tukkan as they made their way to the door controls.

"Hey don't sweat it Mollus. Can I call you Molly? Yeah I'll just call you Molly" Tukkan grinned as he approached the exit ramp.

"I would prefer it if you didn't" Mollus bristled at the indignant nickname.

"Don't worry Molly I have nicknames for everyone, well sort of, called Frieza Freezy-Pop once… he didn't appreciate it" Tukkan chuckled as he unlocked the hatch to the outside. Out of the corner of his eye Tukkan could see some of the tension in the kid's shoulders dissipate. _Dad always said open with a joke, man may have been a bit of a drunk but damn he gave some good advice._ Tukkan grinned as he input his commands to open the hangar door.

"Still some of your crew have died and we never asked you to help us but you did anyway… I feel like some of the things we said back there… what I said were callous" Mollus admitted with a shake of his head.

"Again don't sweat it pal, we all knew what we were singing up for when we joined up with Frieza, it's just part of the job" Tukkan replied giving the glum Namekian a playful shove. Before Mollus could reply however a sudden screech echoed in the confined space of the hangar as Yang flew around the corner taking a position next to Tukkan who looked back quizzically. Nearly deafened by the large bird's cry Mollus cursed grabbing his sensitive ears as the intense ringing subsided slowly.

"Sorry about that pal" Tukkan apologized to Mollus before turning his attention to the majestic bird at his side. "Now what are you doing here?" Tukkan asked as if expecting the bird to answer back. While Yang lacked the vocal cords to respond traditionally she was able to get her point across pretty easily with a swift poke of her beak before turning her attention to the now open hatch to the outside. "You're coming with us?" Tukkan questioned with a small smile that Yang answered immediately with a shrill caw and a flap of her wings.

"Well alright let's head ouuuuuu shit!" Tukkan cursed at the hellscape outside The Nemesis. The clouds in the sky were black as midnight, darkened from the smoke and debris thrown into the atmosphere from the battle still being waged only a few miles away. Bolts of brilliant lightning arced down from above gouging ugly trenches into the scenic Namekian landscape. Massive chunks of earth shattered under the intense strain the planet was going through while islands were simply swallowed by the torrential oceans.

"We need to pick up the pace, Yang hop on" Tukkan gestured to his back hoping the bird would understand. Instead though the golden bird reared her angled head back letting loose a fierce hunting cry before taking to the air with a powerful flap of her expansive wingspan. After two flaps a golden aura surrounded the bird as she took off at a blistering speed that left the chef and Namekian youth baffled.

"I can't believe it, I eat one of those damn fruits and all I get is a slight power boost and an ass kicking, she eats one and suddenly she's the most powerful bird in the damn universe!" Tukkan laughed as he took off after Yang with Mollus hot on his tail. Noticing the confused look on the young Namek's face Tukkan just shook his head and waved away the look. "I'll tell you later, crazy story though!" Tukkan shouted over the roar of the ever increasing wind as the pair raced to catch up with the streak of gold that Yang had become in the distance.

Back on the bridge Nadan watched the trio depart with a lump in his throat. Even if they succeeded in their mission all they were doing was bringing back two critically injured friends and two corpses, that is if they managed to survive the endeavour at all. Ever since the last of his probes was destroyed Nadan had been left to rely on the ship's less precise energy scanners and the vague Ki signatures that Tukkan and the other Namekians had been able to sense. That was the only reason they knew that Tyr and Aayla had perished, it was the only reason they knew that it had been Frieza and Cooler's combined power that had damaged Namek so severely and it was what left Nadan feeling so helpless now.

With The Big Gete Star all but disabled and the surviving Meta-Colds out of his technological reach there was little Nadan could do other than sit and wait for the others. The feeling of uselessness was not one he relished and coupled with not knowing what was actually happening outside only made the experience worse for the scientific prodigy.

"They'll be fine my friend" Moori chuckled taking a seat beside Nadan, sitting for the first time since arriving on The Nemesis. Nadan may have only known the Namekian Elder for little over a few hours now but he felt like he understood what the man was all about. He exuded a confidence that bolstered his people's own confidence in him, leading them with sage words of advice and comforting them with his boundless kindness. _A true leader of his people, fundamentally different from Lord Frieza, but with more than a few similarities,_ Nadan nodded at his own assessment of the kindly Elder. Both he and Frieza were great leaders they just had different ways of going about leading.

"For what it's worth, I am terribly sorry for what's happened" Nadan sighed rubbing his temples gingerly, today had been incredibly trying up to this point and it didn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.

"Do not fret, my friend" Moori placated the on edge scientist placing a bracing hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "There was no way for you to foresee these turn of events" Moori stated resting his head back and letting his wrinkled antenna drupe ever so slightly, clearly today's events had been incredibly trying on him as well. After several moments of easy silence Moori let out a small sigh before straightening back up, enjoying the few brief moments of relaxation he afforded himself. "How much longer does our planet have left?" Moori asked trying to make sense of the streams of information still flowing across Nadan's computers.

Sitting himself up, Nadan looked over the streaming information with a small frown. There was plenty of information, mountains of it but not one bit of it could give Nadan a concrete answer to the Elder's simple question. After a minute of trying to narrow his answer down as best he could the scientist turned to face Moori with a scowl. "I don't know… It could be in five minutes, it could be in five days. There are so many unknown factors and variables that it would be impossible to say for sure. It depends on how tough Namek is, how much longer Lord Frieza's fight will drag on, if they detonate another blast against the surface like the last one" Nadan's shoulders sagged knowing that there was no way he could accurately inform his newfound friend about his own planet's imminent demise.

Another long pause stretched out between the pair as the violent storm raged outside the viewport and the faint sounds of battle could be heard even through the thick metal of The Nemesis' hull. _If only I had something I could do right now, all of this waiting is going to drive me insane. I just wish… wish… WISH!_ Nadan immediately jumped from his chair his mind whirling at how obvious the solution to their dilemma was. "Moori, we need to gather the Dragon Balls."

* * *

"You've looked better" Shuyo chuckled as Cooler touched down beside him, sinking to one knee from the soreness running through his muscles.

"Hilarious, how's the spine?" Cooler huffed at the stoic monk's humour.

"Can't quite feel it to be honest" Shuyo laughed at the disgruntled Frost Demon. Adopting a more serious expression Shuyo craned his neck upwards to see the ongoing battle between Frieza and the Meta-Colds. "How's that going?" Shuyo asked with a tilt of his head.

"I'd say they're wearing him down but none of their engagements last more than a few blows" Cooler muttered double checking on the still unconscious Weiss. "They exchange a few punches and Frieza smashes or blasts them to pieces not much else to say really" Cooler shrugged rubbing his shoulder.

"Which is why I suggest a new course of action" a familiar voice echoed from behind the Frost Demon. Spinning around with a Ki blast at the ready Cooler was now face to face with another of his father's blasted doppelgangers. Raising his hands into the air in a show of surrender the Meta-Cold knew it had to work fast before his son did anything drastic.

"What do you want?" Cooler spat leveling the energy blast for when the cybernetic demon said something he didn't particularly like.

"As it stands Frieza is going to destroy everything around him in his current state" the Meta-Cold stated placing his arms behind his back and tilting his head back ever so slightly. "He's already done irreversible damage to this planet, attacked you and has been unresponsive to any and all forms of communication. It's clear that there is no getting through to him the way he is" the Meta-Cold stated sparing a glance upwards to see Frieza decimate several Meta-Colds with a massive blast of Ki.

"Get to the point" Cooler snapped keeping his own Ki blast trained on the metallic tyrant. He already knew where his father was going with this but he needed to hear the tyrant say it.

"I propose a temporary truce" the Meta-Cold finished simply holding out a single hand for Cooler to take. "After all the enemy of my enemy is my friend" the cybernetic demon said with a small smirk.

"One problem with that statement, Frieza is not my enemy only you are… but I will need help subduing him" Cooler sighed dissipating the Ki blast in his hand and taking his father's own in a shake forming their, extremely, temporary truce. "I can only hope you have some way to turn this fight around, as it stands your little army's looking a little sparse" Cooler chuckled at the scowl on the cybernetic demon's face.

"The Big Gete Star has seen fit to allow us to transfer our power to other platforms, there are now ten full powered units ready to combat Frieza when you're ready to join us" the Meta-Cold responded coolly, lacking the condescending tone the Frost Prince knew so well.

"Referring to yourselves as units now? Or has The Big Gete Star finally given up trying to convince us that you still have free will?" Cooler chuckled, taking note of the blank look on his father's facsimile's face.

"We-"

"Incoming!" The shout of warning coming from the distance caught the conversing pair off guard as a golden streak of light raced past the two. Yang now stood tall over the unconscious body of Weiss glaring daggers at the Meta-Cold at Cooler's side, her feathers raised like the hackles of a dog. The golden bird let loose a piercing shriek causing Cooler to wince from the shrillness of the cry.

"Easy girl no need to deafen us" Tukkan called out touching down with a young Namekian right behind him. The pair of new arrivals came to a sudden halt upon seeing the stationary Meta-Cold facing them with cold indifference. "Hey Cooler, what's with the shiny?" Tukkan asked placing himself in between the cybernetic demon and Mollus.

"A temporary truce, a very temporary one until we can get Frieza under control" Cooler replied glancing back up to the raging battle just in the distance that was slowly getting closer and closer to them. Cooler didn't even bother questioning what the three of them were doing here, there was far more pressing concerns to address at the moment. Turning to look at the Meta-Cold Cooler asked the question that had been nagging at him for since this whole debacle began. "Just how many of you are there" Cooler questioned crossing his arms as Tukkan and Mollus moved towards the injured.

"Not counting this unit and the nine on standby… then just those currently engaging your brother" the Meta-Cold responded slowly double checking to make sure no other units were unaccounted for.

"I see" was Cooler's only response. _I doubt even half of them will survive this… perfect, less work for me later on_ , Cooler thought smugly. Frieza's little temper tantrum may just have been what they needed to weed out the last of the cybernetic demons.

"Holy crap we are never getting invited back here are we?" Tukkan laughed looking at steadily worsening Namekian landscape.

"If the planet explodes while you're busy sightseeing you won't be getting invited anywhere" Mollus cut in nudging the chef from his reverie.

"What!?" Neither the chef nor the Namekian had expected such a harsh response to the comment let alone coming from both Cooler and the Meta-Cold at his side.

"What you didn't know?" Tukkan asked earning him a deadly glare from the Frost Prince. "Woah ok no need to get hostile, yeah Nadan says the planet's a goner it's just a matter of time" Tukkan answered quickly shoving his hands into his pockets as he sidled away from the disgruntled Frost Demon.

"How much time?" The Meta-Cold pressed taking a step forward and earning a cry of warning from the golden bird situated over Weiss, one that he easily ignored.

"No clue, Nadan says it could happen any time now and it's only going to get worse the longer your fight drags on" Tukkan replied just as a colossal crash in the distance echoed to their position. Frieza had smashed the last Meta-Cold he was dealing with into the ground with a vicious axe handle strike sending the ruined metal frame into the ground which exploded upwards in a fiery plume of molten rock. "Yeah that couldn't have helped" Tukkan sighed as he made his way over to Shuyo who was fading in and out of consciousness from the pain raking through the parts of his body he could actually feel.

"How's it going Big Green?" Tukkan chuckled kneeling beside the stoic monk and pressing a hand on the man's sweat covered brow.

"I'd say I've felt worse but… I don't think I have" Shuyo laughed softly much to the chef's surprise.

"Holy crap! Did they beat a sense of humour into you?" Tukkan laughed along with the monk before being cut off by an enraged roar in the distance.

"Tukkan!" Cooler shouted getting the chef's immediate attention. "You're here to evacuate them right?" Cooler asked getting a swift nod from the chef. "Then move your ass, load them up and tell Nadan to get off world immediately, I don't want our ship anywhere near this place when it explodes" Cooler finished giving his orders and turned to face the incoming threat of his brother. Frieza wasn't racing towards him like he thought he would, instead the transformed Frost Prince was slowly drifting closer and closer to their position, like a predator studying its latest prey.

"Right ok so how do you want to do this?" Tukkan asked Shuyo bending down to one knee to get in a better position to lift the incapacitated monk.

"Just lift me up, I can't feel anything below the small of my back anyways" Shuyo grunted as the chef complied with his request. Sliding his arms underneath the monk's muscular form Tukkan lifted the man into his arms in a bridal carry. "My hero" Shuyo grunted with a small smirk that almost made the chef drop him in shock.

"Seriously man you got to stop that you're kinda scaring me, I'm supposed to be the funny one remember?" Tukkan laughed straightening himself up.

The light hearted moment didn't last long though as nine more Meta-Colds dropped from the sky in unison landing with mechanical precision that only they could replicate. Tensing up at these fresh arrivals Tukkan looked them over until his eyes fell on one standing off to the right, unlike the others this one carried something under his arm. A closer look at what was situated in the cybernetic demon's grasp contorted the chef's face into one of pure outrage.

"I believe this thing belongs to you?" The Meta-Cold holding Tyr's broken and battered body drawled as he tossed him towards the group. Mollus was the first to react and quickly caught the young boy's body before it hit the charred ground.

"You bastard!" Tukkan shouted taking a step forward only to be halted by the man in his arms.

"Let it go Tukkan" Shuyo said placing a hand on the angered chef's shoulder.

"Whatever" Tukkan hissed as nine of the enhanced Meta-Colds took to the air to confront Frieza. The one that stayed behind swept his gaze over the assembled people before leveling on Cooler.

"Quite the family you've gathered here son" the Meta-Cold chuckled before his features grew more solemn as he turned to face the fight that had already commenced between his brothers and Frieza. "Say your goodbyes, we have work to do" the cybernetic demon said over his shoulder before taking off towards the battle.

Turning away from the fight Cooler marched towards the others who were waiting expectantly for whatever the Frost Prince had to say. "Will you be able to get them all back safely?" Cooler asked Tukkan who was still simmering from the Meta-Cold's previous callous act.

"I'll manage boss, don't worry about me, what about you?" Tukkan asked flicking his eyes towards the battling Meta-Colds. "You can't trust them, they'll turn on you if they see an opening" Tukkan said readjusting Shuyo so he had a firmer grip on the monk.

"And I'll do the same to them so it's a moot point" Cooler chuckled glancing down at the monk in the chef's arms. "You better make it to the ship otherwise I will be incredibly pissed with you" Cooler muttered to which Shuyo only smiled and offered him his hand. Rolling his eyes at the monk's gesture Cooler grasped the green monk's hand only to leap back in shock at the sudden surge of energy that raced into his body. Looking from his hand to the monk in disbelief Cooler couldn't find words as the monk burst out laughing.

"I knew you would never accept my energy willingly" Shuyo replied weakly with a wink. "Good luck my friend" Shuyo muttered as he slowly closed his eyes finally losing consciousness.

"Sentimental moron" Cooler shook his head at the monk's actions only to feel another rush of energy being sent to him. Whirling around his eyes fell on the Weiss' outstretched hand, pointed directly at him. The girl had regained consciousness just long enough to bestow what little strength she had left to Cooler.

"Please… bring … him… back…" Weiss gasped before succumbing to her own exhaustion and falling facedown into the dirt.

Mollus moved to go pick up the unconscious girl only to backpedal as Yang lifted her wings into the air and screeched at him in warning. Looking from the bird to Tukkan the Namekian youth was at a loss for what he should do.

"Don't worry about it Molly, she's super protective of Weiss, just let Yang take care of her" Tukkan placated walking over to the young Namekian. "Here place Tyr on top of Shuyo, I'll take them both, Yang can take care of Weiss that way you only have to lift… Aayla" Tukkan's expression dipped into a solemn frown as he turned to look at the deceased Securan lying in the dirt.

Nodding in agreement Mollus gently lowered the Tyr's body atop of Shuyo's doing his best to ensure he didn't aggravate the monk's already severe injuries. As he did this, Yang moved to hook her talons around Weiss ensuring that she caused the unconscious Demoness no undo harm. Spreading her wings out to indicate she was ready Yang steadied her intense gaze on the Namekian as he made his way over to Aayla's bloodied and beaten body.

Scooping the azure warrior into his arms Mollus did his best to ignore the horrible damage that the Securan had withstood before the Meta-Cold finally claimed her life. Letting out a small sigh he nodded towards the others and Tukkan gave Cooler one last nod before taking to the air with the others in tow.

As the trio departed the battlefield with their precious cargo secured Frieza, currently embroiled in the midst of his own battle, caught sight of them departing. More specifically he spotted the Namekian youth flying away with _her_ body. Letting loose a savage cry of anger Frieza unleashed an intense blast of Ki in all directions forcing back the Meta-Colds enough to give the distraught Frost Demon an opening to race through.

From his position on the ground Cooler spotted this latest turn of events and immediately sprang into action. None of them had a chance in hell against Frieza, least of all like this. Pushing himself to incredible speeds Cooler intercepted Frieza with a thunderous right hook that sent the younger Frost Prince into a plateau that crumbled under the tremendous impact.

"So glad you could finally join us" drawled one of the Meta-Colds as they took up positions around Cooler who only spared them a passing glance. Their numbers had already been whittled down from ten to seven and those remaining were showing the signs of their short battle with the enhanced Frieza. Most sported large amounts of damage across their chassis, one was missing half its face and another was missing its lower torso. _If this is my back up then I guess I truly am on my own_ , Cooler snorted as the rubble of the destroyed plateau exploded upwards in a violent fireball.

Rising out of the flames and debris Frieza looked up at his assembled adversaries. Chest heaving rapidly, bordering on hyperventilation, Frieza locked the twin pools of crimson that were his eyes with that of his brother's. Rubbing his cheek where Cooler had stuck him, Frieza visibly bristled at the image and let out another deafening roar before taking off looking to destroy everything in his path, friend, family and foe alike.

 _"Please… bring … him… back…"_

"Damn it kid I'll do my best" Cooler grunted igniting his own immense power and charging to engage his brother as Namek collapsed around them.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Guess who's not dead? This guy! And neither is A Simple Act of Mercy. So saying I'm sorry doesn't quite cover it as I see last update was way back in 2016 and the wait I've put you all through has been inexcusable. Unfortunately school and work has left me with little time to actually work on the story. That coupled with one of the worst bouts of writer's block I've ever had led to the delay in this chapter. I want to stress I do not plan on making you all wait so long again.**

 **But now on to the chapter itself and I will admit it acts mostly as the set up for the true boss fight of The Big Gete Star arc which is Cooler vs Out of Control Transformed Frieza. I came to the conclusion that this would be preferable to a never ending parade of Meta-Colds that ends with the real King Cold inside the station (don't worry we'll get to him later). Re-watching the second Cooler movie I realised how anti climatic it really turned out to be, I felt like there was a distinct lack of emotion and Cooler and his clones went down like punks for no reason so I felt like a major change needed to be done. I do hope you guys enjoy it.**

 **Another important part of the chapter is character interaction. I tried to have a few more one on one interactions to help flesh out the characters. Chief of these is the growing friendship/rivalry between Cooler and Shuyo as well as the unlikely friendship between Moori and Nadan. Speaking of whom I really enjoyed writing for the irritable scientist this time around and tried to give him more to do than just science. I realised I had relegated him to one role for the last few chapters while the fight's been going on and wanted to branch off a little.**

 **At the end of the day I had to rewrite this chapter five times before I was finally satisfied with the end product (writers block made the previous versions outright garbage in my opinion). What I have now I can honestly say I'm satisfied with but there's still that nagging voice in my head saying that this one isn't good enough. I usually don't ask this but please leave a review or message me with your thoughts on the chapter as I really want to hear what you guys think of it so I can improve for the future.**

 **Until next time guys thanks for your patience and take it easy!**


	30. Chapter 30 - It All Comes Crashing Down

**Chapter 30: It All Comes Crashing Down**

"Ha, come on son you can do better than that!" Goku laughed, ducking underneath the flying head kick his ten year old son tried to hit him with. Quickly adjusting his angle, the young Half-Saiyan spun around on the spot before charging back towards his father with a flurry of punches and kicks. "That's the way Gohan, keep me off balance and mix it up, don't just throw head shots try and work the body when you can!" Goku's words seemed to have an immediate effect on Gohan as the boy transitioned from a right straight punch to a left hook to the gut that actually staggered the full-blooded Saiyan.

Hopping backwards to get some distance, Goku followed his retreat by unleashing a quick volley of small Ki blasts towards Gohan as he made his approach. None of the shots were enough to cause any real damage but that wasn't their purpose to begin with.

"Woah!" Gohan gasped as the wall of golden light raced towards him. Thinking fast the young Half-Saiyan changed angles and took to the air to avoid the volley. Now high above the treeline, Gohan had little time to begin searching for his father's whereabouts before his heightened hearing picked up on the distinct sound of someone reappearing from the Instant Transmission technique.

"Gotcha!" Goku grinned, throwing a punch directly towards his son, only to blink in surprise when his fist passed straight through Gohan's afterimage. Reappearing a moment later, now cloaked in a glaring red aura, Gohan unleashed a titanic punch that took his father by surprise knocking Goku right out of the air.

Slamming head first into a series of trees, Goku tried to right himself only to once more have his Kaio-Ken enhanced son reappear behind him to land an earthshaking switch kick to the older Saiyan's side. Wincing in pain from the heavy hit, Goku found himself once more in full retreat as his son pushed after him, his teeth barred from the strain the Kaio-Ken was having on his body.

"You might want to try pacing yourself son, your mom's gonna kill me if you're too tired to study tonight" Goku laughed as he began to find his rhythm against his son's attack. Goku's grin only seemed to get bigger as Gohan flared his aura and pushed even harder, driving both Saiyans out of the woods and over a lake.

"I'm keeping it at times fifteen, it's not so bad!" Gohan called out over the water that was now surging around their battling forms.

Goku couldn't resist smiling wider at his son's words, nor could he resist the surge of pride he was feeling towards the young Half-Saiyan. _"Man, only ten years old and he's already way stronger than I was when I landed on Namek!"_ As ridiculous as it sounded it was completely true, his son had already far surpassed his strength he held just four years ago and even now was giving him one hell of workout.

Ducking under a punch and kick combo from his son, Goku caught sight of Chi-Chi watching them from the shoreline. His wife had been uncharacteristically ok with the amount of training he was getting Gohan to take part in lately and he could only assume it had something to do with the amount of time the two had been spending together. Chi-Chi was always talking about spending quality time together as a family, even going as far as to come with them on these training excursions. Still she worried, as any mother would, that Gohan was getting in over his head sparring with someone like Goku who was a born fighter.

Tilting his head ever so slightly to the left Goku was slammed backwards towards the shoreline by another thunderous punch from Gohan. True he had let Gohan hit him that time but Chi-Chi didn't have to know that particular detail and if it made her feel better about how well their son was doing then bonus!

Slamming into the soft sand, Goku dug a deep trench through the beach coming to a halt just a few short feet away from Chi-Chi. Still as beautiful as ever, his wife was sitting on a picnic blanket she had taken with her and was trying, and failing to hold back the laughter that had her shaking at her partially buried husband. Getting up with that same silly grin he always had on him Goku shook his head to get the sand out before giving his wife a quick thumb's up. "Wow, he hits like a truck" Goku laughed before taking off into the air once more.

Re-engaging Gohan above the lake, Goku felt as if the moment was so surreal. Even though they were training to combat the Androids that Trunks had warned them about, it didn't detract from how perfect this whole day seemed to be going. It was just him, his son and his wife enjoying the beautiful day and each other's company, the sparring session was just the icing on the cake.

" _Just a few more days until the Androids show up, I hope the others are training just as hard as we are"_ Goku thought as he blocked a kick from Gohan and responded with one of his own. _"I feel like I'm ready and Gohan's made so many improvements it's actually kinda crazy, all the training with me and Pic… Wait, where is Piccolo?!"_ No sooner had he thought of the green skinned warrior than he appeared in a burst of blazing red Ki. Roaring at the top of his lungs the white cloaked Namekian went on the attack, flanking Goku from the left while Gohan continued to press down the middle.

Taken aback by the Namekian's surprise attack, Goku was once more forced to concede ground as the newly formed duo pushed him back with a flurry of punches and kicks. Flying back to make some room for himself Goku had to duck to the side as Piccolo's arm extended to an absurd degree almost landing a crisp punch on the retreating Saiyan. Just like Gohan, Piccolo had made incredible improvements in the three years since Trunks' arrival. At this point Goku had little doubt that he would have given Frieza a run for his money back on Namek.

A large part of it was from their constant sparring sessions and Piccolo's peculiar resistance to the adverse effects of the Kaio-Ken. The towering Namekian had said it was due to his unique biology that eased the strain and lessened the damage the technique had on his body. What that equated to was the perfect training partner for Goku and Gohan. He could tone it down to keep pace with Gohan's ever increasing level and on more than one occasion had held his own against Goku when he had gone Super Saiyan.

Goku had always preferred making friends instead of enemies. While most of his friends didn't quite agree with him on that subject, no one could deny how integral Piccolo had become in the Son household's day to day life.

"Masenko!" The sound of both Gohan and Piccolo charging up their signature attack caught Goku off guard as the pair flared their aura. _"Woah, Gohan's jumped to times twenty! And Piccolo's at… I don't think I can count that high!"_ Goku laughed, forcing himself backwards to get the distance he needed. Reaching deep down Goku felt the well of power resting within him and unleashed it, feeling the familiar surge of energy as his body unleashed a blinding flash of golden light. It wasn't too often that the pair forced him to go Super Saiyan but it didn't seem like they were playing around today. "Ha!" Gohan and Piccolo exclaimed as one, unleashing the pair of golden Ki blasts towards Goku.

"Kamehameha!" Goku shouted quickly unleashing his own intense Ki blast to combat the incoming golden beams. The trio of energy blasts met at the center of the lake with a tremendous crash that shook the forest around them for miles. Despite being in his Super Saiyan form Goku quickly realised that they were actually pushing him back! He could feel the amount of surging energy Piccolo was putting into his attack and it seemed like Gohan was trying his best to match him. Say what you will about the competitiveness of Saiyans but Piccolo never passed up a chance to try and best Goku.

Reaching deep down Goku drew out even more power and was about to send it straight towards the battling pair when he suddenly sensed an indescribable pulse of malevolent energy. Clearly Piccolo and Gohan had picked it up as well as they both relented on their attack allowing the battling Ki blasts to detonate in the center of the lake, transforming the once peaceful body of water into a raging torrent of frothing water.

Looking around in all directions for the source of this terrible energy, Goku's mind immediately went to the Androids. Were they attacking sooner than Trunks had said? "Dad do you feel that?" Gohan asked in awe as he and Piccolo flew over beside him. The pair had let go of their Kaio-Kens for the time being but Goku stayed in his Super Saiyan form just in case.

"Yeah, but where is it coming from?" Goku questioned, closing his eyes to try and focus on the source of this new incredible energy… except it wasn't new at all. Slowly opening his eyes Goku looked up into the sky in horror at what he was feeling before looking back down to an infuriated Namekian.

"It's Frieza, isn't it Goku!?" Piccolo snarled, baring his teeth as he to found the source of the terrible energy being unleashed. Goku didn't need to answer, Piccolo was well aware of the Frost Demon's particular Ki signature. "Damn it Goku! I knew this would come back to bite us in the ass!" Piccolo barked heading down to the beach where Chi-Chi was waiting for them with a worried expression on her face. She may not have been able to sense Ki as well as the others but she could tell that something was incredibly wrong.

"It's not that bad Piccolo, I mean do you feel how far away he is?" Goku grinned trying to alleviate the mood with a bit of levity. Touching down beside his wife, Goku let his hair revert to its normal mess of black while Gohan landed beside him.

"That's the problem you idiot! We can still feel him from that far away! It's been four years since you let that monster live and look how powerful he's become!" Piccolo barked angrily, he and Vegeta had been the two most vocal about Goku's decision to let Frieza live back on Namek. While everyone else were left in stunned silence as Goku explained his fight with the frost tyrant, the Namekian and Saiyan Prince found unexpected comradery in their shared disbelief in Goku's naivety/stupidity.

" _Damn it Kakarot how hard did he hit you!? You had him dead to rights and you let him live!? Have you lost your goddamn mind!?"_ Vegeta's rant had stretched on for almost half an hour before Bulma, of all people, was able to calm the enraged Saiyan down. Deep down Piccolo knew that while Vegeta was right in berating Goku for this latest lapse in judgement it was also something they should have seen coming a mile away.

Goku had let both Piccolo and Vegeta live despite everything they had done to the idiot. Both of their respective fights had left Goku in a battered and broken body and while everyone around him called for their respective deaths Goku always chose to offer mercy. Whether it was because he wanted to have another round with them in the future or because he was just too soft for his own good, Goku always seemed to offer a hand of mercy, Frieza was just the latest to be given the offering.

"Look Piccolo I stand by what I did and if he comes to Earth we'll just beat like we did his dad" Goku replied confidently crossing his arms and trying to keep a straight face. Unfortunately for the goofball Saiyan Piccolo had spent the better part of three years around the man and had grown quite adept at seeing through the Saiyan's lighthearted outlook.

"Goku look me in the eyes and tell me if any of us would stand a chance against him if he showed up right now" Piccolo growled. The angered Namekian thrust his hand into the air to point towards the seething mass of terrible energy the Frost Demon was unleashing to emphasize his point.

Scratching the side of his cheek meekly Goku took a second to try and size up the incredible energy Frieza was releasing at the moment. "Nope, if he showed up right now he'd mop the floor with all of us" Goku chuckled, trying not to look at the horrified looks of his son and wife beside him. He couldn't really blame them for being shocked by his answer, Goku was never one to say something was impossible, however this was different. In just a few short years, Frieza's power had increased by such a dramatic degree that he honestly couldn't fathom it.

"Well that's just great Goku! So you're saying the only reason we aren't already dead is because someone else out there's grabbed his attention!?" Piccolo snarled, his anger getting the better of him. He could understand Goku letting him live after the twenty-third World Martial Arts Tournament. His vendetta with the Saiyan had been personal and he cared little for his father's plans for world conquest meaning the only person Goku was putting in harm's way was himself. Letting Vegeta live, while at the time was utter lunacy, did prove to be worth it in the long run as Vegeta did turn out to be the lesser of two evils. The problem was that Frieza was that greater evil with a kill count that the rest of them couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"Alright that's enough you two!" Chi-Chi snapped, stomping her way in between the two warriors. Piccolo took a cautionary step back as Chi-Chi leveled her piercing stare on both him and Goku. Goku's wife may not have had the strength of her husband but she had a fire in her that even managed to put Piccolo on edge. "What's done is done, Goku let Frieza live and we can't do anything about that, now tell me, is he about to show up?"

"We can't be sure, he's lightyears away from Earth right now" Piccolo grunted glancing towards Gohan who nodded in confirmation. Scientific knowledge wasn't exactly his strong suit, that was more or less where Gohan shined.

"Well then in that case why don't we sit down have some lunch and cool our heads a bit" Chi-Chi commanded, waving towards the assortment of food that only two hungry Saiyans could hope to wolf down.

"Sounds like a plan to me, I'm starved!" Goku laughed, rubbing his stomach as it let loose a thunderous rumble.

"Very well we'll leave it for later then…" Piccolo grumbled as he slowly rose into the air, his cape flapping gently as he ascended.

"You're not going to join us Piccolo?" Gohan asked, taking a spot beside his father who had already begun digging into his wife's home cooking.

"Maybe later kid, I think I'm going to go meditate for now" Piccolo replied, sparing Goku one last glance before taking off into the trees. Despite popular belief Goku was not stupid, reckless and overconfident without question but not stupid. He could feel Frieza's immense power just as well as Piccolo could, he could feel the gap between their strengths. Simply put if Frieza were to show up on Earth right now it would be a massacre.

So even though Goku appeared to be stuffing his face and laughing with his family Piccolo knew that deep down the Saiyan was anything but carefree. It had only been a flash in the warrior's eyes but the Namekian saw it nonetheless, fear.

It took Piccolo only a few minutes to coast his way to his destination, keeping his senses trained on the swirling torrent of malevolent energy being unleashed by Frieza. Situating himself beside the Paozu Waterfall, one of his preferred spots for meditation, Piccolo began to analyse what they had just felt. That burst of malevolent energy was now beginning to fade and was far more subdued than before but it was still there. Piccolo had felt a similar phenomenon when Frieza underwent his transformations back on Namek. A sudden burst of energy that gradually settled at a single point, was it possible that Frieza had conducted another transformation? Anything was possible, truth be told Piccolo's knowledge of the Frost Demons in general was somewhat lacking.

Then there was Goku's reaction, it may have only been there for the briefest of moments but the ever vigilant Namekian still managed to pick up on it. Goku and fear were two things that simply didn't mesh well but Piccolo was there on Namek while Goku struggled against Frieza. The gap between them had been monstrous then as well and for the most part Frieza toyed with Goku, strung him along and bat him around like a cat would a ball of yarn. If it wasn't for Goku's own transformation then Frieza would have slaughtered all of them.

And now Goku was left with that same feeling he had when fighting Frieza the first time. The power differential was back and it was even larger than before. If it came to another fight Frieza wouldn't toy with Goku as he had before, he would simply end the Saiyan. And that's what sparked the fear in Goku, he created this entire situation by letting Frieza live, he could very well have doomed the entire universe because of one act of misplaced kindness.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding in Piccolo glanced back up into the sky. These were all worries for a later time, the Androids would be arriving in just a few short days and if they weren't prepared, then Frieza would hardly be a concern for them anymore. _"Whoever's fighting Frieza right now, you have my sympathies"_ Piccolo thought before returning to his meditative state. Piccolo's ears suddenly twitched as a new Ki signature raced towards Goku and his family. _"Speaking of sympathies, here comes Krillin. Oh he must be loving this"_ Piccolo thought slyly before refocusing on his meditative trance.

* * *

"Damn it boy is that the best you can do!?" one of the few remaining Meta-Cold's snarled as Cooler was blasted back by a savage energy wave. Digging his feet into the dirt to slow himself, Cooler felt a vein bulge in the side of his head at the robotic facsimile's snide remark. The elder Frost Prince was trying his absolute hardest not to turn on the Meta-Colds that had become his very temporary allies, their incessant derogatory remarks were clearly not helping his already tried patience.

"Perhaps if I had some support I would be faring better" Cooler spat back with barely contained venom lacing his muffled voice. It had only been a few minutes at best since the Meta-Colds joined the fight against his rampaging brother and at most his father's doppelgangers equated to little more than shiny cannon fodder.

"You have no one to blame for that but yourself" the Meta-Cold snapped back before taking off into the sky once more with Cooler at his side. A quick scan of the battlefield told Cooler all he needed to know about the raging battle, it was going poorly. Of the ten Meta-Colds that had come to take on Frieza only four now remained with only the one at Cooler's side being relatively undamaged. Cooler himself was starting to feel the strain of maintaining his augmented form for so long and his muscles were beginning to ache from the prolonged stress he was putting them through.

Glancing up Cooler watched as Frieza slammed his fist straight through one of the Meta-Cold's chest causing it to explode, showering the approaching pair in fragments of charred metal. "Damn it! Get his attention so I can flank him!" Cooler snarled as his brother's rage addled gaze fell on them. Without answering back the Meta-Cold at Cooler's side rocketed forward overtaking the Frost Prince and charging straight for Frieza.

Darting left Cooler avoided an incoming energy wave from his brother. Glancing down Cooler's lips pulled up in another snarl as the blast raced downwards detonating against Namek's surface with unthinkable force. Namek was already on its last legs as it was but with Frieza hurling energy blasts with reckless abandon he was liable to finish off the crumbling planet at any moment. Focusing back on the task at hand Cooler raced upwards to the battling pair of Frost Demon's, taking a moment to survey the battling pair.

Frieza was clearly the stronger of the two but the Meta-Cold was surprisingly managing to hold his own. Blocking a wide swing from his raging son the Meta-Cold immediately retaliated with a quick volley of silver Death Beams point blank into Frieza. Despite the close proximity, Frieza still managed to close his guard in time to stave off the deadly projectiles however with his face now covered he failed to counter the spinning axe kick that connected with his shoulder. Letting out a savage howl of agony Frieza charged forward punching his way through his father's guard before connecting with a brutal punch to the robotic Frost Demon's gut.

Grimacing from the strain his metallic body was undertaking, the Meta-Cold dodged to the right to avoid a tail strike and lash out with a quick side kick. The kick managed to connect with his son's abdomen and the cybernetic warlord grinned as he felt at least two of Frieza's ribs crack from the strike. Thinking that now was the time to press the attack the Meta-Cold lunged forward with a sinister glint in his piercing red eyes and began unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks. The tempest of rapid-fire attacks seemed to have Frieza on the ropes and the Meta-Cold actually began to grow more confident in his assault. At least he was until Frieza slammed his forehead into his father's doppelganger in a sickening head-butt that sent the mechanical Frost Demon tumbling back down towards the turbulent water's below.

Charging forward Cooler went on the offensive and managed to reach Frieza before he could finish off his damaged opponent, attacking with a quick shot to his ribs that halted the younger Frost Demon's attack. Acting quickly Cooler snaked his arms underneath Frieza's armpits from behind in an attempt to subdue him. The Full Nelson was awkward with Frieza's newly formed spikes that jutted from his back, but Cooler was certain he would be able to hold his brother steady, at least for a little while. "Damn it Frieza get a hold of yourself!" Cooler roared into Frieza's ear, drowning out the sounds of the howling wind and crashing thunder around them.

Despite Cooler's familiar voice ringing in his ears Frieza barely registered it and instead seemed to double his attempts to break free from his brother's hold on him. "Frieza listen to me! You need to calm down!" Cooler shouted, struggling to keep his grip on Frieza. Thinking quickly Cooler unleashed a quick burst of energy forcing both him and Frieza downwards and into a nearby island that, miraculously, was still relatively intact.

Slamming Frieza into the ground face first, Cooler's arms struggled to keep their hold on his writhing brother who had yet to cease his incessant howling. "You need to listen to me brother! You're burning through your energy too quickly you're going to kill yourself at this- Argh bastard!" Cooler snarled, feeling the pain of Frieza's tail slamming into his back with tremendous force. Lashing out with his own tail Cooler quickly coiled the limber appendage around his brother's own in an attempt to hold it in place. However the time and focus it took to pin down his tail gave Frieza the opening he needed to break his arm free from Cooler's grip.

Quickly charging a sphere of purple energy in his free hand, Frieza roared before slamming the palm of his hand into the ground. Blinded by the intense blast of light both Cooler and Frieza were hurled into the air once more by the impromptu energy blast. Still clinging onto his brother's back Cooler tried to right himself before securing his arm underneath Frieza's once more. "Frieza this won't bring Aayla back!" Cooler shouted once more and this time his words actually seemed to register with his rabid brother.

For a brief moment Frieza actually ceased his struggling only to suddenly let out a pained howl as one the damaged Meta-Colds slammed his knee into Frieza's abdomen. Retching from the attack, Frieza slammed his head backwards into Cooler's face cracking the bone mask that covered his brother's face with the sheer force of the attack. With Cooler temporarily stunned from the surprise attack Frieza charged forward, his body encased in a sphere of purple Ki and all sense of control lost once more. The Meta-Cold barely had a second to register what was happening before Frieza slammed both fists into his torso driving them both back down into the crumbling island. Fracturing the island with the force of their collision, Frieza drove them both straight into Namek's crust letting loose a savage snarl on the way down.

Try as he might the already damaged Meta-Cold could do little to fight off his enraged son who forced them both farther and farther down, displacing thousands of tons of rock and sediment in the process. The Meta-Cold's barely functioning scanners barely picked up the significant increase in temperature until Frieza made one final push driving them both clear through the crust and into Namek's mantle. The Meta-Cold's eyes widened in shock as the liquid rock and metal burned away at his ruined body. The last image its sensors were able to process was his son's enraged form unleashing a colossal energy blast that quickly engulfed his entire form.

Back on the surface Cooler was trying his best to gather his bearings, he could still feel his brother's overwhelming presence but where was it? While he pondered this, the entirety of Namek began to shake violently until the land directly underneath him heaved upwards for miles around. For one horrifying moment Cooler was certain the planet was about to detonate and braced himself for the incoming blast. After a few seconds passed Cooler looked down to see that the planet was still relatively intact however the upheaved landmass had grown into a bulging mountain of seething rock.

"I think your brother may have killed himself, the fool flew straight into the planet's center" the lead Meta-Cool stated flying up to his other son's side. Glaring at the robotic Frost Demon's partially collapsed face, Cooler snarled in outrage at the cybernetic tyrant's gall. "You dumb son of a bitch, I was getting through to him and your idiot clone ruined it!" Cooler shouted, flaring his aura in anger.

"Well he's clearly dead now so what's done is done" the Meta-Cold shrugged only to have Cooler coil his tail around his metallic neck. Applying a bone crushing amount of force into his tail's muscles, Cooler dragged his father's struggling form closer to him so they were now face to face.

"Don't be an idiot, Frieza's still very much alive, and I can't say the same for your clone… or for yourself if you continue being _detrimental_ " Cooler growled, putting extra emphasis on the last word. Both he and his father knew that as soon as Frieza was dealt with and subdued they would go right back to their own fight. In Cooler's eyes there was little reason to be friendly with someone you had every intention of murdering, clearly his father was thinking the same.

Despite his outrage and utter distaste towards his robotic allies, Cooler was beyond worried. The elder Frost Prince was quickly eating through what little energy he had left in his worn down body. Even the significant amount of energy he received from Shuyo and Weiss had already run its course through his system. On top of that Nadan and the others still hadn't left the planet. Instead it felt as though Tukkan was out flying around along with several Namekians. The sudden realisation of his crew remaining on the doomed planet brought a fresh wave of anxiety to the already overtaxed Frost Demon.

"What are those morons doing!? I told them to get the hell out of here!" Cooler snarled, thrusting the captured Meta-Cold back into the last one that was slowly flying back up to their position.

"Why do you even care about those weaklings?" The newly arrived Meta-Cold questioned, quite the accomplishment for someone missing their lower jaw. The two of them represented the last of The Big Gete Star's forces and Cooler would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy watching Frieza tear them into scrap metal. Deciding to ignore the robotic tyrant's inquiry altogether, Cooler retrained his focus on the hole his brother had dug into Namek's surface and the mass of upheaved earth that now resembled some kind of grotesque rocky blister.

" _Fighting him directly isn't going to work, I need to keep trying to get through to him… damn it this is something Shuyo should be doing not me!"_ Cooler thought bitterly. It was a fact that the verdant monk was far better suited for trying to get through to Frieza than Cooler was but that course of action was no longer an option.

Turning to the two remaining Meta-Colds, Cooler leveled a determined glare their way. "You two will back off for the time being. I need to try getting through to Frieza and that can't happen with you two sneaking in shots whenever you can." For a moment the pair of mechanical Frost Demons looked as though they were ready to protest but as Namek shook violently around them once more they both gave their elder son a quick nod of agreement. What Cooler didn't see was the smirk both robotic Frost Demons shared as their elder son turned to face Frieza's approaching energy.

Once more facing the bulging swell of earth, Cooler grit his teeth in frustration, Frieza's energy was racing back to the surface at a blistering pace giving him little time to prepare. _"Alright brother, if there was ever a time to listen to me, make it now!"_ The massive bulging landmass heaved upwards once more before suddenly collapsing upon itself, the falling rock and earth formed a cascading avalanche of unthinkable size. It was over in almost an instant but billions of tons of rock had been cast into the inky void.

The bulging mound of rock had now been replaced by a massive sinkhole that stretched for miles in either direction. At the center of the gaping chasm was a furious Frieza, cloaked in his signature purple aura and charging straight towards Cooler. His body was singed and burned in several spots and rapidly cooled rock was clinging to him in several places but his massive strength was still as prevalent as ever.

Taking a deep breath Cooler raced downwards in a blur of incredible speed to meet his brother. Closing the distance between each other in a matter of moments, the two brothers slammed straight into each other with a thunderous impact that seemed to shake the very foundations of Namek itself.

Applying an extra burst of energy into his charge Cooler managed to force Frieza back driving the pair back down into the continental sinkhole. Shoving Frieza back to make some space Cooler ducked to avoid a titanic punch from his brother only to have his face slam into Frieza's knee. Jolting back Cooler once more found himself on the defensive with Frieza unleashing a torrent of punches and kicks in his direction.

"Frieza stop it! I'm trying to help you!" Cooler shouted. Ducking underneath a straight right from his brother, Cooler lashed out with a push kick that caught Frieza in the abdomen but did little to slow his attack as Frieza just seemed to ignore the pain and rushed forward. "I know you're angry but- Damn it! You need to- Gah! Get a hold of yourself!" With that last cry Cooler countered one of his brother's kicks with a tremendous punch that actually seemed to stun Frieza for the moment. Using this brief respite to his advantage and ignoring the cracked bones in his right fist, Cooler rushed forward grabbing hold of Frieza's head with both hands.

Pressing his forehead to his brother's Cooler forced the younger Frost Demon to look directly into his eyes. "She's gone Frieza! But if you don't get a hold of yourself we may not be able to get Aayla back!" Pushing forward Cooler slammed both himself and Frieza into the side of the sinkhole in an avalanche of rock and dirt. "I understand you're angry, I've been there! It is a part of you but it doesn't control you!" Cooler shouted mirroring the advice Shuyo had given him during their training sessions.

For the briefest of moments it seemed as if Cooler was beginning to get through to his younger brother. But just as Frieza's thrashing and growling began to subside the planet around them began to tremble once more. Thinking that Namek had finally given up Cooler broke away from Frieza to look around only to be blinded by a glint of sunlight sneaking through the tempestuous clouds and reflecting off of a metallic surface. Looking up Cooler's eyes widened as The Big Gete Star began to rise into the air scorching the surface of the planet with its engines as it tried to get it into orbit.

When he had first laid eyes on The Big Gete Star it looked like some form of grotesque metal parasite clinging to Namek's surface. However now that it had disengaged from the doomed planet the tendrils that had stretched their way across the planet were retracting back into the station's center and forming a massive saucer that looked incredibly similar to his father's old command ship.

As Cooler glared at his father's retreating station an absolutely feral yell emanated from behind him. Spinning around Cooler was nearly bowled over as Frieza rocketed upwards towards the retreating space station. "Seriously!? You recognize that but not me!?" Cooler shouted, taking off after his brother. Try as he might it seemed that Frieza was simply too fast for Cooler to catch watching with a fresh surge of annoyance as the gap between them steadily grew farther and farther apart.

As the two Frost Demons raced after the retreating space station the two remaining Meta-Colds glared down victoriously. Between the mechanical duo was a shining sphere of pure energy, their Shining Supernova was nearly fully charged. Clearly this entire Namekian endeavour had proven fruitless so with little choice left the two remaining Meta-Colds were putting every last drop of their energy into one final planet buster. If they couldn't have Namek and its people then they would sure as hell make sure that his sons payed the ultimate price for interfering.

Beginning to lag farther and farther behind Cooler glanced up into the blackened skies only to catch a glimpse of a gleaming silver light emanating from the clouds directly above Frieza. It was a brief flash and was immediately cloaked once more by the darkened cloud cover but Cooler was positive he had seen something. Focusing his senses on the area above his speeding brother, Cooler realised all too late what it was. "Traitorous bastards!" Cooler howled just as the two surviving Meta-Colds dumped every last ounce of their combined energy into their coup de grâce. Falling away to either side with a grin on both of their now lifeless faces, the Meta-Colds last act had been unleashed in the form of a colossal sphere of pure energy that blasted straight down towards Frieza and what was left of Namek's surface.

With the rage addled Frieza so focused on catching up to The Big Gete Star he failed to notice the incoming attack leaving only one person available to do something about the incoming planet killer. _"Frieza's not paying attention! That attack's going to drive him straight into the planet and finish them both! Damn it I'm going to regret this but I need more speed!"_ Focusing on his own energy Cooler felt his muscles shrink and his body revert to that of his unsealed form. This significant drop in musculature and mass brought with it a significant speed boost as Cooler pushed himself to intercept the Shining Supernova racing towards Frieza.

Gritting his teeth at what was about to come Cooler disappeared in flash of super speed before reappearing directly in front of his brother. Quickly spinning around Cooler lashed out with a crescent kick that knocked the surprised Frost Demon out of the way and down into the darkness of the massive sinkhole. Using the momentum from his kick to spin himself around Cooler brought both hands up to brace against his father's attack just as it slammed into him.

With his body now in its natural unsealed form Cooler was almost instantaneously forced downwards by the titanic blast. The ball would have been a chore for Cooler to deal with even in his augmented form, without it Cooler found himself being forced down into the gaping chasm far faster than he would have liked. Feeling the ache in his tired muscles tear away at his stamina, Cooler nonetheless pushed against the blast with all his might, he knew that all he was doing was prolonging the inevitable and that Namek was doomed whether he stopped this attack or not. But even as Cooler felt his strength wane he could just pick up the energy signatures of the rest of his crew. They still hadn't left the planet! _"What's their problem!? I gave them a direct order to leave and they choose now to be insubordinate!?_ Cooler thought sourly.

Feeling the flesh on the palms of his hand begin to blister, Cooler let out a pained roar as he continued to hold back the attack that continued to push him farther into the gaping chasm. At this point Cooler was so focused on trying to hold back the attack that he couldn't even focus long enough to see if Nadan and the others had taken off yet. Veins began to bulge along Cooler's body and his muscles began to scream in protest as the Frost Prince was driven further into Namek's crust. Chancing a glance down Cooler's eyes widened in shock at what he was now faced with. Only a few miles down was an ocean of liquid metal and rock, Namek's mantle. If he didn't stop the attack now the blast would drive him into the ocean of magma before detonating.

"I'm not dying like this!" Cooler shouted feeling his energy surge once more, fueled by his desire to survive. He was a Frost Demon dammit! His people were survivors, they had evolved and became the dominant life form on Fuar, one of the harshest planets in the known universe, this worthless attack was nothing!

Despite still being in his unsealed form Cooler felt himself beginning to slow the Shining Supernova in his hands to a steadying halt barely a mile above the sweltering magma below. With a guttural yell Cooler flared his aura and pushed back with all his might driving the attack back upwards, it was slow going but Cooler could feel himself gaining momentum, he was actually doing it!

Unfortunately for the elder Frost Prince he was unable to see anything beyond the blinding sphere of silver energy so he had no way of seeing the impending threat. Now looming over the massive chasm, The Big Gete Star cast its menacing shadow over the entire area. Nadan may have cut off most of its vital systems along with its direct connection to the Meta-Colds but the Malakan scientist had failed to deactivate one key feature the AI driven station had up its proverbial sleeve. Slowly the center of the station began to open unveiling a shining core of pure energy.

Embedded in the side of the chasm wall by his brother's surprise attack, the still rage blinded Frieza dislodged himself with a rough grunt before glaring up at the floating structure. Upon looking at the center of the station and its glowing core something deep within the younger Frost Demon finally seemed to click. Turning his attention downwards his crimson eyes narrowed upon seeing the massive sphere of energy deep down in the chasm.

Suddenly an intense mechanical whine blared from the center of The Big Gete Star and the pulsing core of silver energy at its center erupted in a cataclysmic beam of destructive energy. Racing down towards Cooler and the Meta-Cold's final attack at an unthinkable speed this intense blast seemed to ignite the air itself turning the gaping chasm into a hellish inferno of searing heat. Glancing back up to the colossal station above him Frieza let out a savage cry of hatred towards it before vanishing in a burst of enhanced speed.

Still struggling with the intense sphere of energy deep in the chasm, Cooler was left completely unprepared for the sudden blast of energy from above. Crying out in pain and surprise the older Frost Prince quickly felt the minimal amount of progress he achieved against the colossal attack dissipate in an instant and once more grit his teeth under the intense surge of energy.

"You son of a bitch, if I survive this I'm going to turn that station into scrap metal!" Cooler howled into the energy blast bearing down on him. He didn't need to see who launched the attack to know it was The Big Gete Star. Inching closer and closer to the lake of molten rock below, Cooler tried desperately to access his augmented form, he needed the extra power if he wanted to entertain any hope of surviving the next few minutes. Clenching his eyes as tight as they'd go Cooler tried his best to focus just as Shuyo had shown him to. However the horrendous strength of the energy blast coupled with the mounting temperature in the chasm made concentrating nigh impossible.

As the heat began to become almost unbearable to Cooler, something he thought impossible for a Frost Demon, the sphere of energy suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Eyes suddenly snapping open in absolute shock Cooler's head whipped to the side to confirm what he was sensing. For a moment the elder Frost Prince believed the heat had finally taken its toll and was causing him to hallucinate. Blinking rapidly to confirm his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, Cooler's jaw dropped at the sight of his brother.

Hands held upwards against the Shining Supernova, Frieza was still very much in his augmented form but seemed to have gained at least a modicum of control over himself. _"Perhaps that kick managed to dislodge his brain"_ Cooler thought to himself.

"Trans… form… now!" The sound of his brother's voice was nearly as shocking to Cooler as his sudden appearance. Ever since his transformation, the younger Frost Demon's vocabulary had devolved to a series of shouts, grunts and incomprehensible gibberish. So when Cooler didn't immediately respond to his brother's demand it was mostly because he simply didn't expect actual words to leave the transformed prince's mouth.

"Transform… idiot!" Frieza spat venomously, his voice ringing out clearly over the roar of the energy blast bearing down on them. Quickly shaking himself from his shock, Cooler backed up just enough to give himself a reprieve from holding back the attack. Reaching down inside himself Cooler found the spark of rage and hatred he always attributed to his augmented form and took hold of it. Feeling the familiar sense of his muscles bulging and bone armour thickening around his body, Cooler let out a tremendous yell as his power once more soared. Though he was not nearly as powerful as earlier that day, Cooler was still very confident that together he and Frieza could now push back this attack.

With their renewed power the two transformed brothers immediately went to work driving their hands against the Shining Supernova. The results were immediate and both Cooler and Frieza began forcing back the enormous attack, inches became feet, feet became yards and soon the brother's found that with their powers combined they were forcing back the blast at an unbelievable pace.

High above the pair, the continuous stream of energy from The Big Gete Star suddenly doubled in strength driving against the brothers and their redirected attack. Pouring all available power that wasn't being used for the engines The Big Gete Star put forth one final attempt to finish off the brothers that had ruined its well laid plans.

The fresh surge of energy crashed against the sphere of energy with earthshattering force and in an instant, dragged the two brothers' advance to a stuttering halt. "Damn it!" Cooler cursed behind his newly formed bone mask, this second wave of energy had brought them back to square one. Suddenly Cooler felt himself being pushed back steadily once more, driving him back down into the darkened chasm. Glancing to his side Cooler's eyes widened in surprise when he saw that Frieza had left his spot beside him. Whipping his head from side to side to locate where his brother had run off to. Feeling a pulsing energy growing behind him Cooler took a moment to turn around to see Frieza floating behind him hands clasped together and at their center a sphere of crackling purple energy.

" _That's..."_ Cooler began before his thoughts were cut off by a savage scream of anger and power from his brother.

"Theta Crush!" Thrusting his hands forward, Frieza unleashed the condensed ball of energy into a stream of crackling purple energy that expanded at a startling pace. Eyes widening in shock Cooler darted out of the way of the wave of expanding energy before it slammed into their father's Shining Supernova. The unstoppable wave of his brother's unleashed fury quickly consumed their father's attack before crashing against The Big Gete Star's energy wave in an explosion of silver and purple energy.

Seeing the stalemate between the two battling forces and realising they didn't have the time to deal with such a clash, Cooler dropped down beside his brother who was screaming at the top of his lungs. Thrusting both hands forward Cooler unleashed a Full Powered Death Flash, the blast of fiery energy erupting with the force of a volcano. Cooler's blast joined with his brother's and together the two catastrophic energy waves pushed back The Big Gete Star's own.

With one final shout of exertion both brothers sent one final blast of energy racing into their attacks. This sudden increase in energy was far too much for the saucer-like station floating above Namek's deteriorating surface and overwhelmed the wave before slamming straight into The Big Gete Star. The conjoined blast of energy tore a swath of destruction straight through The Big Gete Star. The wave of energy erupted through the top of the towering structure in an immense explosion of energy and metal that sent tremors racing through the station.

"Take that… you… son of a bitch" Cooler panted feeling the strain of the battle finally beginning to overtake him. When this was over he was going to sleep for a week and murder the first person with enough gall to try and wake him. Glancing towards his brother with a smug grin on his face Cooler was faced with a Frieza who had finally changed back into his natural unsealed form. His body was a mess of bruises, burns, cuts, welts and dirt. His normally piercing crimson eyes were dull and faded and before Cooler knew it, his brother was falling backwards.

Darting forward Cooler caught his brother in his arms bridal style and began flying them both out of the chasm. _"Finally ran out of energy… about damn time you colossal pain in my ass"_ Cooler thought smugly, looking at the barely conscious form of his brother. Flying out of the chasm Cooler looked far and wide before finding a small outcrop of rock that had somehow managed to survive the carnage of their little war. Touching down on the small island Cooler laid his brother down before dropping to his own knees to let out a tired groan. His muscles were on fire, the bones in his right hand were surely broken and he had a ringing in his ears that just refused to go away. Glancing upwards the older frost prince could see the heavily damaged form of The Big Gete Star slowly rising out of the clouds. It was rare for Cooler to leave an adversary to flee, but the sight of the monstrous station spewing fire and black smoke as it limped away brought a tired smirk to the Frost Demon.

"I'll deal with you when I catch my breath" Cooler chuckled, fully sitting down beside his brother and taking the moment to look at their surroundings. "Well we certainly did a number on this planet" Cooler sighed, creaking his neck from left to right. True to the prince's words Namek was an utter disaster. Apart from the chasm that stretched on for miles, Namek's oceans were beginning to completely recede, horrendous storms were ravaging the surface and it seemed like the entire planet was undergoing one continuous earthquake.

Letting out a tired sigh Cooler flicked a small rock off their temporary island into the frothing waters surrounding them. "Damn, the Namekians won't be happy about th-"

"Brother…" startled by the weak call from his brother Cooler leaned in closer to make sure he had actually heard him.

"Are you awake, idiot?" Cooler grunted, giving Frieza a prod with his tail to see if he'd react. And react he did, slowly Frieza's eyes began to open, bleary and unfocused Cooler had his doubts he really knew what was happening around them.

"Did we do it? Are they dead?" Frieza rasped, trying to pick himself up before Cooler laid a steadying hand onto his chest to force him back down.

"We got them, blew a hole straight through that eyesore they called a ship" Cooler chuckled letting his bone mask retract to expose his bloodied mouth.

"Aayla would have enjoyed that…" Frieza muttered before his eyes slowly closed once more. For a moment a spark of alarm raced through Cooler as his brother's body went still but a quick check confirmed that he was still very much alive. Gazing down at Frieza with a rare sense of what some would call brotherly affection, Cooler patted Frieza on the shoulder as he drifted further into unconsciousness.

"Her only regret would have been not being by your side as you blew them to kingdom come" Cooler whispered somberly. As much as he may have chided his brother for his relationship with the Securan he couldn't deny the impact she had on not only Frieza but all of them, himself included. "Perhaps we can get her ba-"

Once again Cooler was cut off but this time instead of his brother's strained whisper it was by a thunderous explosion. Whipping his head around and springing to his feet Cooler watched as a torrent of fire and molten rock a mile wide erupted from the gaping chasm in a cataclysmic spray of heat and death. Looking around in a panic Cooler saw similar pillars of lava erupt from the planet for miles around. This was it Namek couldn't take it anymore and was finally succumbing to the damage they had inflicted upon her.

Thinking as fast as he could Cooler quickly brought up a barrier of pure purple energy around himself and his unconscious brother. All around the pair, torrents of fire and rock erupted in brilliant displays of violent geothermal might. Gritting his teeth together Cooler put as much energy into his shield as he dared risk. Cooler's mind raced trying to determine if his shield would hold against the planetary detonation, under normal circumstances there would be no question but in his deteriorated state...

"Congratulations brother! You're the first person in the history of the universe that has managed to blow up the same planet twice!" Cooler shouted over the roar around him, knowing full well that Frieza wouldn't hear a thing. Suddenly the ground directly beneath the brotherly duo erupted in a flash of blinding fiery death throwing the pair around the confines of their makeshift shelter. Cracking the back his head against Frieza's as the pair were tossed around Cooler began to black out just as Namek erupted around them. The last thing the worn out Frost Demon saw before darkness consumed him was his own purple shield holding miraculously strong and laced with a familiar crimson energy.

* * *

 **Author's Notes : ****Hey everyone I'm back and I bring apologies! It's been one hell of a rough couple months as of late. Moving cities, a hard break up and what I've been told may be depression have kinda left me drained emotionally, mentally and physically. Unfortunately that has led to a severe and unacceptable lack of content on my part and so I can only hope you all can forgive me.**

 **But on the bright side I'm back with a bang! As in Namek… I blew it up… again. I've come to the conclusion that the chances of a planet exploding increase exponentially as Frieza gets closer to it. Now some may question the significance of blowing up Namek again and I can totally understand that but it will lead into the next few chapters in an important way so please bear with me.**

 **One thing I wanted to touch on as well was Goku and the others back on Earth. I used last chapter to not only introduce King Kai but also show what an impartial mediator who has seen the good things Frieza has done since his defeat and give his opinion on him. With this chapter I decided to show how the Z fighters feel about Goku letting Frieza live while simultaneously showing their reactions to Frieza's enhanced power. On top of that it also had two other major points. Firstly it let me get some time writing for the Z-fighters who I've obviously had less work with and secondly helped me establish where we are in the timeline for those who may have questions.**

 **Overall a very action heavy chapter and we're still not done with The Big Gete Star Arc I felt like this one may have been a tad shorter than expected but after so long away from the story I didn't want to drop too much in one go. Next chapter will be primarily focused on what Nadan and the others had been up to since we last left them. And if all goes according to plan we'll get to see the fight you've all been waiting for The Nemesis vs The Big Gete Star!**

 **On a serious note I do need to apologize I know I said last chapter I wouldn't make you guys wait as long ever again but my friend Iain put it best. Sometimes life just kicks you in the dick and doesn't stop until you kick back, bless that idiot. In any case I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and hope you've had a great summer.**

 **Until next time everyone take care!**


	31. Update

**Update:**

Hey there everyone unfortunately this is not an actual chapter but more of heads up on what I've been doing, i feel like i owe you that much rather than leave you in the dark for the foreseeable future. So i recently reread Frieza: A Simple Act of Mercy and came to the conclusion that... it needed work. Now when i say work I mean a complete and total overhaul of the story and so that's what I've been focusing on for quite some time.

This overhaul doesn't just entail grammatical fixes and spelling corrections oh no, this is a top to bottom rewrite of a good chunk of the chapters. The overall story will remain the same however dialogue that i previously found clunky and wooden is being adjusted to flow more naturally. On top of this I will admit as my first serious attempt at writing an extended multi chapter story i was woefully inexperienced and didn't truly understand good story structure at the time. This led to several story ideas that were either never truly fleshed out or were simply added because i was throwing ideas at the wall to see what stuck. For an example Frieza and Aayla's mental link, i gave you guys no decent explanation as to why it was there and it hasn't been of any meaningful significance other that their personal brain Skype. If you're wondering, yes in the revised version the link will be erased and instead i will focus on building their relationship more naturally... she still dies at the end of Chapter 28 though so no getting around that sorry.

To summarize you won't be seeing another update for a while, i wish i could give you guys a time frame i really do. However the next update will be an enormous one and i do hope that all of my fans of the story will read through the whole thing. My original hope was to get these corrections done as a sort of Christmas present to all of you but i quickly realized that such a schedule would be impossible for the amount of work that needs to be done, especially when i'm also writing my other stories (got several different ideas in production) and of course work and my personal life constantly get in the way even though i would like nothing more that to just sit down and binge write.

I sincerely hope you're all doing well and can't thank you enough for your patience and understanding you've shown this novice writer.

Take care and as always take it easy friends!


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